Yet Again
by Silverfawkes
Summary: Sequel to Yet Another Universe. Harry is Pulled to another Universe where almost everything is changed. Can he adapt quickly enough to survive? Will he finally find a place to call home? Warnings posted in Author notes chapter 1
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Harry Potter it's characters and settings are thr exclusive property of JK Rowlings, Scholastic books and WarnerBros. Films. I get nothing for the stories I write using these characters and settings. All I get and I love when I get them is reviews from my readers. This story is a collaboration with Darkshaddowedrose. Betaed by Alix33

A/N: As I promised Yet Another Universe's sequel enjoy. Transportation has four chapters of Still Another Universe based off my challenge. This story contains mention of gay sex, rape, murder, and promiscuous behavior if any of that bothers you read elsewhere. This story is very dark the first several chapters you have been warned. Also if you haven't read Yet Another Universe you might want to, not all of this story will make sense if you haven't.

Yet Again

Chapter 1

It was winter solstice. The large stone lined room was occupied by three wizards. They had carefully outlined a salt circle on the floor. They brought in a muggle girl, naked and struggling. Only one of the three, eyed her with any appreciation of her form. He was the Senior Lord of the English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish Marches and a personal favorite of their Supreme Excellencies, the Lord Emperor of the Greater World and His Lord Consort. The reason they were here, was the Court seer had proclaimed that she saw their world changing for the better when they called for one who defeated Tom Marvolo Riddle in another world. It had taken five years for them to find and tailor a ritual to do what they wanted.

Tom Marvolo Riddle had been a thorn in The Lord Emperor's side for far longer that should justly be allowed. The empire their majesties ruled over extended from what was once called Europe to what once was Asia except for China and its allies to the south and east. Their Supreme Excellencies in their wisdom declared this was more than enough Holdings. For the greater good of all their citizens this was "enough". After all, being responsible for the well-being of so many (500,000) class one citizens, seeing to the management of 300,000 the class two citizens and controlling ten and a half million class three citizens, was so much work. Of course the American Alliance of Citizens, the East Asian Confederation of Magicals and Non magicals, Austraillian Republic, and the African Emirates of Mchawi could never be persuaded that their Supreme Excellencies were content with what they controlled and as such lived in a state of constant alert on their borders.

Tom Riddle was the one biggest reason their Supreme Excellencies appeared content in their holdings. That particular wizard headed the resistance. He was extremely innovative and annoying. His most recent spell creation allowed him to liberate the class two citizens from their internment camps meaning their control over their holdings was being interfered with. It would be a simple matter to eliminate him if they could find him. But four years ago Tom had created a means by which he and his troops stayed safe in combat with Imperial Forces, thrice damned golems. Made from clay, sawdust, and some mysterious ingredient the golems took on the shape and appearance of its commander. It was if its commander possessed the golem and it was able to do anything including magic that its commander could do. But if the golem died it crumbled to dust and while that person would be gone for that battle he or she would inevitably appear at the next. Of course the strike and run tactics also made things difficult. All attempts to reverse engineer golems thus far had failed. Tom Riddle and his band of rebels also had a habit of hiding in plain sight. Somehow they blended into the general population of class one citizens, and got hold of proper documents even after the newest of changes.

As they crafted their ritual they carefully chose the parameters by which means the spell was to choose the hero to come. He had to have defeated Tom Riddle at least twice just to be sure he could do it, he also had to have had either a working relationship or no experiences with Their Supreme Excellencies in those other universes. Their Excellencies shared a kiss of triumph for soon they would be rid of the one who stood in their way, before they nodded to their favorite to begin the Rite. All three wore Blood red robes that wouldn't show the blood spray from the girl as they used her death to fuel the magic to open a portal and summon their required hero.

A light showed above the circle and a moment later a figure fell from the light. Before their eyes was a half-dressed person clinging to a wildly screeching barn owl. "Dang it! I was on a beach with a babe! What is wrong with you people! Would it really have been so wrong to let me actually score with a girl, before you haul my ass to yet another effing universe! I swear Fate Hates ME! Shit it's cold here! What is it the middle of winter?"

"It was not winter where you came from?"

"No it was the twenty first of Ju- Oh Crap! Summer solstice." Harry took a closer look at his surroundings and suddenly felt very nervous. Two of the three wizards looked very familiar. One was a dead ringer for Snape minus the hooked nose that had clearly been broken more than once, two looked like Dumbledore minus, oh, seventy years give or take five and the crooked nose. On the wall hung a flag with the symbol of the Hallows and Wizard number three reminded Harry of pictures he had seen of Gellert Grindelwald. "Aelf I don't think we're in Kansas anymore." Then he noticed over in a corner the naked body of a girl whose throat had been sliced. Every instinct was screaming run, but somehow Harry knew if he did he would die. Adopting a bored tone and pose he said,"So I take it you brought me here to off Tom Riddle."

"Stupendous, so little to go on yet he gets it right first guess." Gellert Grindelwald said gleefully.

"Yeah. Not hard for some reason." Harry shivered.

"As much as we appreciate the view, my love, perhaps we should allow the young man to get into some warmer clothes before he catches his death." Albus Dumbledore's words caused a shiver of disquiet to rack Harry's frame. There was just something so wrong with that.

"Indeed. Lord Prince, take our guest to some quarters. See to it he has appropriate clothing, and in the morning bring him to court."

"It shall be as Your Excellencies command." Snape bowed and led Harry from the room.

Harry looked around as they walked through wherever they were. "Um, Lord Prince, Where are we?"

"The Palace at Versailles, We are here for the Solstice Celebrations celebrating the fortieth year since their Supreme Excellencies Ascension as rulers over Europe and the greater share of Asia."

"That's in France right?"

"Indeed."

Harry's doubts about this man being Snape were firmly squashed. That "indeed" spoke of the condescending disgust he had received from the professor for years. "Sorry, somewhat deprived childhood never learned my geography as well as I should. What year is it?"

"1996."

He showed Harry to a small suite that was fairly lavish. He looked at Aelfgifu. "What do you wish to do with your owl? I can have her taken to the owlery."

"Nayh, I'll just transfigure her a perch. I prefer to keep her with me. About clothes, I have a pouch with me. Who do I need to speak to about arranging robes?" Harry wasn't about to tell these people he had everything he owned with him, but he also wasn't about to get into a position where he owed them anything.

Despite a skeptical frown, Snape said. "I'll send for a tailor. He will of course expect a premium price for being roused."

"Of course." Harry had a full wardrobe in his trunk but it was different from what he was seeing. He wanted to compare styles before pulling those robes out, no point to standing out like a sore thumb. Once Snape left he pulled his trunk out and grabbed a robe casting a wandless warming charm on it. He closed his eyes in bliss at the warmth surrounded him. He looked around for something to transfigure into a perch. He finally decided to use the decorative wood holder near the fireplace of the bedroom. He moved it a short distance away from the fire for Aelf's safety then set her up using a piece of parchment from the desk for litter under her perch, and transfiguring the water decanter and cup from beside the bed into a food and water dish for his owl. He was very glad she had come with him, he'd only had her ten months, but she was as intelligent as Hedwig and just as dear to him. "Some adventure huh, girl?"

She nibbled his fingers before flying to the perch, to eat the owl treats he had retrieved from his trunk.

A knock sounded on the door. Harry went and answered it. It was Snape. With him were a older wizarding couple. They carried a small trunk between them.

"These are Monsieur and Madame Lafarge. They are the court tailor and seamstress."

"Come in, Monsieur and Madame. Lord Prince, I'll see you in the morning."

"Court begins at ten. You have been scheduled for eleven. I will come and collect you ten minutes prior. Be ready, Their Supreme Excellencies don't like to be kept waiting."

Harry was very glad he had arranged for robes because the fashions were very different. He had easily chosen robes from sketches presented to him. He chose them all with the idea he would need to be able to fight in them and he would be able to mix up the pieces. Velvet robes of crimson, dark forest green. burgundy, midnight blue, black, and a dark almost black purple and charcoal grey were paired with under layers of damasks, jacquards, satins, and silks in gold, emerald green, light blue, white, silver grey, black. Then he chose an imperial purple satin brocade.

"We couldn't. That color is reserved for Their Supreme Excellencies."

Harry bluntly told them, "I am not Their Excellencies subject or servant. Rather, I am their equal and a potential ally. I want my wardrobe to reflect that. What color is it paired with for their excellencies?"

"Winter white."

"Fine I'll use the dark purple velvet and make a matching a cloak too, line it with the imperial purple silk. That will do for tomorrow. Also I'll need additional cloaks, velvets black, midnight blue and the dark forest green and gold and silver satin. How much will that be?"

They named a figure in a money unit he was unfamiliar with.

"How much weight would that be in gold?"

"Two pounds milord." The tailor said, he expected Harry to try and negotiate.

Harry merely nodded. The seamstress spoke, "And we still need to get your measurements."

"Alright a moment please." He went into the bedroom.

He made a point of slipping on the basilisk hide armor so they would have to include that in his measurements there was no way he was going without it here. He also grabbed two one pound gold ingots and a half pound one as well, from his trunk. He came out cast _muffliato_ and handed them the gold. "The extra is for your silence, a wizarding oath that everything you've seen and everything that has been said, and especially the fact I wear armor under my robes is kept between us."

Half an hour later the couple left, business having been concluded agreeably for both sides.

The next morning Harry was woken by a house elf bringing him breakfast and a message that Monsieur LaFarge would be coming to do final adjustments to his robes at nine forty-five. Harry ate, bathed, did Sonia's hair spell, then dressed in his underclothes and armor. He debated carrying his basilisk tooth sword, and in the end he decided against it. He wrapped a dressing gown around himself, and sat next to the fire in his sitting room, pondering what he would negotiate for.

Harry had more money than he or his children could spend in five lifetimes. Information on how people pulled him from universe to universe that could be useful if only so he could stop it from happening. So unlimited information, especially about this world here, was a must. What he'd seen so far about this universe, however, didn't sit well with him. Harry decided to stick to his Lex Luthor alias after all you never knew when having an alternate name and ID might come in handy. Perhaps in this universe Tom wasn't bad, just anti-establishment. Which given that body in the ritual room last night might not be a bad thing. So he'd have to be careful in his contract. He'd pay his own expenses, get information and word the contract to imply he'd go after Tom but not commit to killing him. Thank god, Mr. Withers, Abigail, Tracy, and Constance had taught him about wizarding contracts and law, actually thank god for the beauties in general.

Monsieur LaFarge arrived and it only took a few minutes to do the final fitting. Between them it was decided that he and his wife would return late that afternoon to finish Harry's Court wardrobe. Harry had time for one more cup of tea before Snape arrived.

When Snape arrived he got an annoyed and disapproving look on his face but he led the way to the hall of mirrors. At the far end of the room were Dumbledore and Grindelwald. As Harry moved closer, throughout the hall whispers broke out. Some were noticing his not so subtle message from his clothes. The hall was clearly where a working royal court went about it's business. Towards the end where Dumbledore and Grindelwald sat were clearly the important members of their court. Every now and a again one of the courtiers would move towards the door only to stop halfway or more, moving to the side where it looked as though secretaries or other servants to the court actually did their work at small desks. Harry paced the two hundred twenty feet evenly side by side with Snape. Twenty feet from the thrones Snape dropped to one knee. Harry stepped a few more feet forward and was amused as two bodyguards stepped forward on either side of the thrones and he halted.

Snape behind him snarled "Kneel, you disrespectful whelp!"

Harry kept to his feet.

Grindelwald's eyes glimmered in irritation.

Harry wasn't sure what made him more mad, Harry not kneeling or Harry wearing purple. Their eyes met for a second, Harry knew if he backed down he would be lost. Suddenly Harry heard from behind him. "Crucio!"

Harry couldn't help it, he fell to one knee with hands on the floor. The curse had come from Snape. Harry knew his voice entirely too well. Held only a couple seconds the spell was meant to humble him. Harry understood that he needed to assert his power, or all hope was lost. He lifted his eyes to verify there was room. before looking at Grindelwald and Dumbledore. When their blue eyes met his sapphire, he changed.

Harry had worked until his change to his animagus form was a split second. Shrieks sounded as the royal court was suddenly confronted with a small dragon. Desks toppled, and numerous people were shoved unceremoniously out of the way. Harry didn't even turn his head as he used his tail to shove Snape into a wall hard enough that the man wouldn't be getting up on his own and would need a stay with the healers and a bottle of skelegrow. After meeting the now frightened eyes of Dumbledore and Grindelwald, Harry turned his head and gave a very small snort of dragonfire in the direction of Snape. He turned back to the two on the thrones and after making eye contact, he returned to his human form.

"Your Excellencies, may I thank you for your hospitality. The suite was quite nice and your tailor excellent. Your choice in guides leaves something to be desired however."

Grindelwald shuddered, but decided to use the out in the young man's words. "Our apologies, it is upsetting that an esteemed ally such as yourself finds our hospitality in any way lacking. How can we make it up to you?"

Harry almost wanted to smile in triumph but at this point all he'd won were words. This dance had many more steps before it finished.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Harry Potter its characters and settings are the exclusive property of JK Rowlings, Scholastic books and Warner Bros. Films. I get nothing for the stories I write using these characters and settings. All I get, and I love when I get them, is reviews from my readers. This story is a collaboration with Darkshaddowedrose. Betaed by Alix33

Yet Again

Chapter 2

It had taken a three weeks of fairly solid negotiation for Harry to get the contract he hoped for. In it he seemingly agreed to hunt down Tom Riddle. When, more if in Harry's mind, he killed him he'd be paid a princely sum. Harry had carefully implied he would, but was not contractually committed to killing Tom. Separate from the contract he was given completely unrestricted access to all of Their Supreme Excellencies libraries. Harry didn't kid himself, however. One of the reasons they had signed the contract was there was no guarantee that once his task was completed or if they figured out he was planning a double cross, there was nothing stopping them from trying to kill him. And he was certain they would. He, however had the right to do anything he felt necessary to defend himself, free from prosecution in the empire guaranteed by Their Excellencies own magic courtesy of the contract. Harry suspected that the only reason they signed it was because Grindelwald had the Elder wand of this universe.

Harry travelled and lived with the court, but he paid a stipend to the court chamberlain/treasurer for the meals he ate with the court and for his quarters. He didn't want them to claim he owed them a penny. It was interesting because he was getting to stay in the great and historic palaces and castles of Europe, Asia Minor, and India. To maintain appearances he had acquired the an elf of his own. He needed someone to cook, clean, fetch, and carry, and better a house elf that a human being because at least the elf got something out of it. Marguerite thought he was a very strange wizard, giving her a uniform, not a pillowcase and always saying please and thank you. Sending her into the local marketplaces for food and the occasional over the counter clothing that he had her tailor for him. But keep her master's secrets she would.

Harry's time was usually spent in the library and boy did he miss Hermione. This Universe was so very different from his own. In addition to spending a few hours a week looking around whatever country they were in, he took one meal a day with the court to reassure Dumbledore and Grindelwald. He said nothing about the surveillance they had him under. Harry spent hours researching everything. He tried to figure out the differences and finding out everything he could about Riddle and the world he'd landed in by day, and sneaking past the guard they had watching him during the night with his cloak for a few hours while they assumed he slept. Those stolen hours were spent investigating Their Excellencies themselves.

The things Harry found sickened him. The first things were sad and ignorant like Dumbledore's sister Arianna died in the muggle attack when she was a girl. His father didn't just go to Azkaban, he was kissed. Dumbledore hated muggles, and never developed a conscience as result. His and Gellert's fascination with their "Greater Good" and with the Hallows was as strong as ever hence their use of the Hallows symbol for their monarchy/dictatorship.

His studies revealed Grindelwald had sided with Adolf Hitler. He had carefully steered the man, who in Harry's world was one of the most evil men in history, to even greater horrors by helping him win most of the battles in his bid for global domination. The Nazis had conquered all of Europe and had made serious inroads in Asia. Killing off masses of people on the way. The way the history books here read, a half billion people died during his rampage. Then at the height of his power, Hitler was overthrown by those he considered his allies. Grindelwald and Dumbledore took over. Overnight they dissolved the Statute of Secrecy in their domain and muggles were reduced to the status of serfs or as they preferred to call them citizens third class. Not all muggles had taken to serfdom well. However, their insurrections were met with a lethal response: for every magical killed a quarter of a million muggles were killed. Entire cities all across Europe, indeed the entire empire, had been razed. From the descriptions, it sounded like fiendfyre had been used.

Harry did research into the magical families he knew of. Septimus Weasley had fought against a non British government and was the most outspoken of his kind, he and his entire family including his youngest son Arthur had been put to death in 1956. Many of the other light families like the Prewetts and the Bones had been completely wiped out, even to the young daughters Amelia and Molly. The Potters were another story. Harry's grandfather had not joined Grindelwald and Dumbledore, but he hadn't made a strong enough stand to warrant being made a strong example of. Instead his Grandfather died in 1966 prior to the state taking children. James Potter, however, was registered as a citizen second class. Harry searched for but couldn't find much about citizens second class. He found record that his mother had been born. He also found a record that at age 16 she'd also been deemed a second class citizen. Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel had been found, arrested, their belongings including the Philospher's stone (Harry assumed) confiscated, Nicholas killed and Perenelle living out another ten years under basically house arrest. At that point it had been noted by historians that Their Excellencies seemed to stop aging. Aberforth Dumbledore had died, imprisoned for speaking out against them the second year of their reign.

The Blacks were accepted members of the court, as were the Malfoys. In fact Harry had seen both his godfather, Sirius, and Draco Malfoy in the entourage of Lord Prince. He didn't approach them because Lord Prince had an undeclared Vendetta against Harry, and Harry didn't want to make things awkward for Sirius.

Magical creatures that had human appearances had it rough as well. Veelas were automatically second class citizens and were closely controlled. Any and all werewolves were automatically exterminated regardless of age if a person survived the attack from a werewolf they were "put down" by the very doctors they sought help from for their wounds. Vampires too were automatically killed.

However that wasn't the limit of the horrors they had perpetuated. Citizen classification was disgusting too. Harry had been able to find details of first class citizen ship easily. To be a first class citizen you had to be magical. Magical children were taken at age seven from their parents, and placed in homes/schools where they were taught what the state wanted them to know. They were given weekly contact with their families and godparents as long as their families toed the party line. Thus supposedly guaranteeing they were healthy, not spoiled and that their first loyalty was to the state. Which in one sense was smart but in another quite horrifying. First class citizens lived lives of comfort. They spent six hours a day working at their state mandated job, but then they had food, housing, medical care and even entertainment provided for them. In return the state asked for their best effort at their job, their loyalty and seven children. If however they wouldn't make their oaths to the State, then the youths were named second class.

He got sick and threw up when he found out the details of third class citizens. All third class females were sorted. Very pretty ones were taught to become little more than concubines. The rest were workers in factories and fields and only allowed to have three children before being sterilized. Males were taken from their parents at fifteen. They were given a year's training before being thrown into basically a gladiators ring. Harry couldn't help but think, "Bread and Circuses anyone?" Those that survived to twenty five were allowed to marry and start families but the number of births was strictly controlled. The birth rates for non magicals didn't compensate for the annual loss of life. Third class citizens had one possible out for their miserable existence. That was to bear a magical child. If they actually did so their existence went from being a third class to something else. Roughly translated that meant moving from a survival based life to one of seeming luxury by comparison. A home, clothing and food provided instead of having to live in a hovel and spending long hours working praying you got enough to eat. Also they went from being limited in their number of children to being told have as many as possible, with the possibility of their children living a first class existence.

If those horrors were not enough Grindelwald had borrowed pages from Josef Mengele, he created biological weapons designed to kill or otherwise incapacitate wizards and used second class citizens for the testing. Records that Harry found indicated that a quarter of a million second class citizens had died due to Grindelwald's 'experiments'. In looking at the records Harry realized there were several thousand second class citizens somewhere, living some undocumented fate. Harry was puzzled why atomic weapons hadn't been developed to try to stop them; until he read how the Americans had used one, only to have a second one was transported magically back to New York City just prior to its detonation. No atomic or nuclear weapons had been used since.

In countries not controlled by the empire wizards had banded together with muggles and united so they could stand against the empire and a cold war of a sort had formed, lasting for the last thirty years. Harry also read about how those other countries had had their wizarding populations quartered by mysterious plagues, which he supposed meant Grindelwald had used some sort of biological pathogen to weaken those countries.

In his efforts to find out about Tom, Harry found out about the resistance. The resistance had existed for the last thirty years, it had probably existed before that but it wasn't acknowledged. It was made up of people non magical and magical descent who disagreed with the policies of the empire. Harry found it strange but appropriate that the resistance formed itself into cells. Each cell was between five to twenty people and cells didn't know of each other other than they existed. The cells usually had one controller but he or she was usually under a unbreakable vow such that even torture couldn't force them to reveal their contacts in the cells they controlled. Whenever the resistance attacked they used a combination of muggle and magical means with the emphasis on the magical so local muggle populations weren't considered to blame. The resistance usually disrupted communications or supplies but every now and then they destroyed a magical lab where work was going on to tighten control over the population or where advanced magical weapon research was being conducted. Harry found it interesting that in most cases where a cell had been found, many of the cell members were teachers, lawyers, and historians.

Harry found out that Hogwarts had sealed itself after the death of Armando Dippet. He wondered what had prompted it. Harry was careful to ward his quarters so he couldn't be spied on there, and he frequently consulted the portraits of his forebearers. There was no sign of Fawkes. The English school of magic was now held in what used to be the Ministry. It was noted in the books Harry read that Dumbledore had bemoaned the lack of history that this had resulted in. When he read this Harry inwardly scoffed more like he bemoaned the loss of the most powerful magical node in Europe. In the last universe Harry had learned that was why the Founders had built the school where they did when shortly before graduation he had found Rowena's library in the room of requirements.

Harry had started researching into the ritual that caused him to jump universes and spent almost all his time doing research so on February 13th at the start of his second year he was surprised when he received a invitation to a formal Valentine's Day ball with the court. Harry had been to enough court functions to know that husbands and wives at court were seldom faithful to one another. Marguerite kept him current on court gossip as to who was sleeping with whom and the amount of bedhopping going on offended his sensibilities. More than one of the court had accosted him. He had even been given an open invitation to Their Excellencies bed much to his disgust. A Valentine's Day ball would probably have a licentiousness that he would find exceptionally embarrassing. At least he didn't have to get fitted for robes for the ball. Madame LaFarge had persuaded him weeks ago to get some very formal robes that she had designed with him in mind. Though she had tried to talk him into crimson with silver or white, he had chosen hunter green and gold. The robes allowed his armor and even his basilisk sword yet would please even the Contessa D'Teresi who was acknowledged as the court's best dresser.

Valentine's Day, Harry found out the fate of the missing second class citizens. He entered the ball and was immediately called over to Their Supreme Excellencies. "Lex, my boy, so good of you to join us. As I was saying to my love, you work entirely too hard. To live like a monk at your age isn't healthy; a young man like yourself needs sexual release. Since you seem to only like women, we want you to join the court as we choose thralls for the coming season." Dumbledore stated.

"Thralls?"

Grindelwald spoke. "Of course. We have an obligation to perpetuate magical kind. Thralls are a means by which genetic diversity can be achieved. I know you have studied our ways enough to know our citizens are asked to have seven children. But having all those children with one partner limits the diversity. Thrallls are the answer. Certain magical users, despite the training we give, think that we are wrong that magic makes us superior and therefore we should rule. Tom Riddle is one of these. But sadly about a sixth of our population feels the same."

"Citizens second class."

Grindelwald smiled and said, "Exactly. Such people pose a problem. But we found a solution."

Dumbledore beamed at Harry. "Come my boy, we've gathered the cream of the crop for the court to pick from, You get first choice of course, you can pick up to seven, a gift to you as it were. I know you you won't be picking any of the boys or young men but there are several young girls to choose from. Beauties all, nothing but the best for the imperial court."

He led Harry to the area where the thralls had been gathered. Roughly a hundred young people stood they were clothed, sort of. Their clothing consisted of a semi-sheer toga like dress and a collar for the girls and a similar shirt and tight trousers for the boys once again with a collar.

"The collars insure their obedience of course. Before the collars it was difficult to insure they would co-operate. We hope you'll take full advantage of their presence, we potion them with a mild fertility and lust potions. It would be good for the empire to get the benefit of your magical seed."

Harry had never felt a stronger urge to be sick, but was completely aware that doing so would cost him his life. He half smiled politely as he was led to the thralls. Harry had never before realized exactly how hard it had been for Snape in his own universe, to smile and nod in the face of such evil. Voldemort had been evil but this mockery of good was worse. He still thought the man a sour immature git, but he had a greater respect for the man's abilities as a spy.

Harry couldn't help but notice that the thralls seemed to fall into one of four categories in terms of their attitude. The older ones (not that there were many, the average age seemed to be seventeen) seemed to fall mostly into one of two categories. Apathy being the most common, but there was one girl she was maybe a year older than Harry. Her eyes held a kind of hopeless anger Harry could remember being in his own eyes following Sirius' death and the revelation of the prophecy. Among the younger ones the look was occasionally one of excitement but most commonly outright terror. He knew what Albus and Grindelwald expected and as much as it sickened him, he would still seemingly comply; if only to spare seven of these young women the perverse attentions of some of the members of the court. He chose six of the youngest girls who seemed the most terrified and the older girl with the desperate and angry eyes. He danced with court members and ignored the sly winks and nudges he was given about his choices. He was correct that he found the whole affair rather disgusting, as many members of the court didn't even bother to seek privacy before beginning to fondle the thralls they selected. When the ball ended Harry led the seven girls to his chambers.

"Marguerite!"

"Yes, Master!"

"These girls will be staying here in my suite and I will be providing for them. I need you to see that they get something to eat while I transfigure my dressing room into something like a dorm for them." Harry went to the unused walk-in closet that was off his bedchamber and started with expansion charms. The dressing room was ten feet by fifteen feet, with expansion charms Harry nudged it up to twenty five by thirty seven and a half. He felt a little bad that he couldn't make it bigger but he knew if he tried it wouldn't be very stable. Marguerite popped next to him. "Marguerite, are they eating?"

"Yes Master some, but they is very frightened and is crying too."

"Crap, I'm sure they're frightened out of their trees... I need you to confiscate seven no- fourteen of the biggest pillows you can find and...fireplace logs half a cord. Report it to the chamberlain's elf so he'll bill me for it. And ask The LeFarges' elf to have them come by, I want the girls more decently covered and... No wait, it will draw too much attention tomorrow if I do it that way. Take the silver I'll set out, to the banks convert it to coin and get the girls' measurements then get, let's see... undergarments for five days, warm woolen cloaks in midnight blue, and warm light blue robes that are plain but completely opaque and buy ¾'' cording. I'll make it a uniform of sorts similar to yours. That way if anyone asks it will be known that they are mine. Hopefully that will keep them safe."

Harry kept mostly to himself but when one of the court's most lecherous women had tried to ignore his "no" Harry had … well Harry had gifted the idiot woman with a change of sex and impotence. Needless to say Harry was now spared the worst of the court's lecherous advances. Hopefully that reputation would also protect "his" girls. Marguerite popped out and a few moments later she popped back in with the requested items. Harry sent her for some parchment from his office while he started transfiguring. Fifteen minutes later there were three sets of bunk beds, one bed, two chairs and three dressers. The beds while not large all had a thick mattress, a pillow, cotton sheets, a blanket and a duvet. He cast warming charms on each of the beds then the room in general since it had no fireplace. It wouldn't do to save them from being raped only to let them get sick from cold.

Harry took a deep breath and went back to the room where the girls were. He wasn't sure what they were expecting but he lived to defy expectations, especially ones of this sort.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"What should I tell father, Godfather?"

"That there is trouble coming for the resistance. I have watched him and while on the surface he seems an average wizard, what he did that first day at court and what he did to Lady Zara, there is more to him than meets the eye. He wears glamours much of the time I'm not sure of his true appearance. I did manage to get Lord Prince to tell me how he got here. He was summoned from another universe to deal with the thorn in Their Excellencies' side. Apparently he has done so in other universes before."

"That is very bad."

"Yes, it's curious though."

"What is?"

"I've been assigned surveillance numerous times. I've always gotten the sense there's more than the obvious with him, and I've gotten the feeling he doesn't like Their Excellencies much. He does seem to dance to Their Excellencies' tune though, so I'm not sure what to think. It's important that we, your father and You-know-who stay on our guard both for our own safety and for the safety of those that depend on us."


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Harry Potter it's characters and settings are the exclusive property of JK Rowling, Scholastic books and Warner Bros. Films. I get nothing for the stories I write using these characters and settings. All I get and I love when I get them is reviews from my readers. This story is a collaboration with Darkshaddowedrose.

Yet Again

Chapter 3

Harry exited the dressing room into his bedroom and was immediately confronted by the seven girls, the oldest gave him the sort of look generally reserved for slime or other things found unwanted on the bottom of a shoe. "I suppose you want us all to strip so you can have your orgy now."

"Actually no. I know that is what you are brought to the court for, but as far as I'm concerned if it's not consensual without potions or whatnot, it's not happening. I chose the seven of you because that was the most I was allowed to choose, and I really can't justify leaving fourteen year olds and to be raped by some of those lechers in the court. As for you, something in your eyes reminds me of myself when I was younger and trapped by fate, I couldn't just leave you to it. Through this doorway is a bedroom with beds for all of you. Sorry, it's a bit crowded but it's the best I can do. Marguerite will bring you proper clothing in the morning. Good night."

"That's it?"

"Well, yes, unless you want to tell me your names? I find knowing names makes things much more congenial. You can cal me Lex."

The youngest girl who looked barely fourteen sniffed back her upset "I'm Dominica." Her voice held a trace of Italy which fit the dark chocolate brown eyes the slightly olive complexion and curly black hair.

"Grazie, Dominica"

"Lei parla l'italiano?"

"Not really, sorry. I just know a couple words." Harry noted the disappointed look she gave him. "If you want, you could teach me some." he was pleased when she immediately brightened.

A blonde girl that vaguely reminded Harry of Gabriella Delacour was the next to speak, "I am Adelheid, but I'm called Heidi. Did you really select us so we wouldn't have to..."

Harry nodded. Noting a hint of both German and French accents in her voice.

The next two to speak were a set of twins that had sort of reminded Harry of the Weasley twins, with their red hair and blue eyes. "Siobhan and -"

"Sinead O'Hurley" twin two spoke. A clear hint of Ireland in her voice.

The next to speak was a girl clearly of Indian descent, "Arundhati."

The last of the young girls reminded Harry of Princess Diana. "Rose Runcorn"

Harry smoothly moved his eyes to the oldest of the girls, she glared at him and was quiet. When the silence had stretched to three minutes he said. "You don't have to tell me I'll just call you, Hey you." The other girls all giggled, and the oldest girl flushed briefly.

"Tamara, Tamara Jenkins."

"Thank You Tamara. It's very nice to meet you, all of you. Now it's late and I am tired so if you ladies wish to make use of the facilities I ask that you do so, then let me go to bed I have to get up early and conduct research in the morning."

The next two weeks slowly proved to the girls Harry's word was good. He ignored their presence for the most part. Each of them took turns as his dinner companion at the meal he ate with the court. Marguerite saw to it that all the girls got clothing and three days into their stay she told Harry they needed a daily walk and something to occupy them while he researched. He gave her money and said see to it. The light blue robes tied with green, gold and purple cording was distinctive enough that people identified it with him. But that didn't solve all the problems.

Harry was returning to his rooms; he had made significant progress on understanding the spell that hauled him from universe to universe which was half the battle. As he rounded the corner he heard a voice saying, "Non monsieur, My master would not like this. Please let me go!"

"Thralls like you don't get to say no. Blonde like you, you're begging for it. I bet you're Veela!" Three court guards had trapped a petite blonde girl between them.

"Non! Please, Mon dieu! Non!"

Harry realized, the petite blonde in the guards hands was Heidi. He didn't hesitate a second to stun then incarcerate the guards. "Heidi go back to our rooms."

"Oui, Lex."

After she left Harry enervated the guards. As they came to they noticed him, Harry had taken out his basilisk sword. "Hello idiots." he gave them a smile that had a lot in common with his animagus form. "Do you know who I am?"

"Lex Luthor, guest warlock of Their Supreme Excellencies."

"That's right, and what are Their Excellencies' orders concerning me."

"To observe everything you do. But otherwise to leave you and your belongings alone."

"Are you aware of the fact I'm allowed to do as I see fit in defense of me and mine, up to and including kill those who disrespect me and mine?" Harry drawled this sentence out slowly.

The three guards gulped.

"That young girl-" one of them started.

"Is not but a Veela thrall milord!" another one finished.

"Thrall yes, but she is my thrall. A gift from Their Excellencies, and I don't share. My only question is what should I do with you. I could simply make you disappear-"

"Please forgive us milord, we won't ever make such a grievous error again."

"then again I could always turn you into women-" He grinned as they let out a collective whimper. "or eunuchs." He examined the edge of his sword.

"Please no-" Sobbed one of the guards.

"Such pretty cries, odd isn't it, how like my Heidi you sound as you beg for mercy?' Harry rested the point of his sword near the privates of the highest ranked of the three and the man turned white. Then he shoved the blade through the man's clothing. He didn't draw blood but he was sure there was a shaved patch and he was rewarded by the smell of urine from all three men. "Dresses of light blue with cording of gold, green, and purple means they're mine. Touch them at your own peril. Next time I won't be so nice. I suggest you spread the word." Harry then left them, tied and in a puddle of piss and returned to his rooms.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Lord Prince chuckled when he heard the latest gossip. He wondered how much of it was true. Lord Kidrakov was all but frothing at the mouth as he complained how Lex Luthor disrespected Their Supreme Excellencies so much. Severus Prince reflected it was more likely that Lord Kidrakov was jealous. No doubt jealous because the young man had what Kidrakov wanted: large amounts of magical power, money (living at court was expensive even if you didn't pay your own way), and the favor of Their Supreme Excellencies in the form of an open invitation to their bed. Kidrakov hadn't been invited there for the last fifteen years and he was the type to want that sort of invite.

In Lord Prince's observations Lex Luthor was very respectful of Their Supreme Excellencies he just considered himself their equal rather than their inferior. He was careful to always convey this in the most respectful way: following the mores of the court to a degree, bowing respectfully, keeping up the polite fiction that he was not under constant observation, and paying his own way. But the inclusion of imperial purple in the uniforms of those he considered his, and his own wardrobe was a subtle message that he was in his own mind their equal.

Kidrakov was a fool. But even a fool has its uses. Severus Prince wanted to test Lex Luthor. Kidrakov had come asking him for a poison. Saying he wanted one that could be placed on a blade. He intended to claim insult and start a duel: one using weaponry, since Luthor so obviously outclassed him with magic. Their Supreme Excellencies were likely to allow it, they hadn't taken the young man's refusal to join them in their bed well. He, himself, hadn't liked the idea of joining them in their bed much, but found that the benefits of doing so far outweighed the drawbacks. Severus had just the poison in mind too, a subtle mix of six venoms. It was a fast acting poison, but it was one that could possibly be turned magically inert. It just took a large amount of power to do so. He was sure Lex had power enough but the question was did he know enough. But then again there was Their Supreme Excellencies to be considered. He constructed an anti-venom that could be used to save Luthor after all the young man was useful to Their Supreme Excellencies.

Luthor had acquired some very, very rare potion ingredients as a return gift to them for the thralls they had given to him. Phoenix tears and willingly given unicorn blood were exceptionally hard to come by let alone acromantula vemon, and griffin feathers, but somehow Luthor had gotten his hands on all four and presented them as a Beltane gift. Their Excellencies had thanked him and said their was only one gift they would like better, Tom Riddle's head. Luthor had smilingly agreed they would like that one better, but that such things took time and planning and he was working on it.

Two weeks later Kidrakov had done it, he had challenged Luthor to a duel with short swords. Then he proceeded to prove what an incompetent he was. He had given Luthor a small slice on the forearm, but Luthor didn't even pause. In four more moves he disarmed and sliced Kidrakov with Kidrakov's own weapon. Kidrakov died of the poison from his own blade moments later. Leaving Severus Prince wondering how it was that the poison hadn't affected Luthor at all. The only thing Lord Prince could come up with was that Luthor must routinely take some toxin in to prevent being poisoned. But whatever toxin he took it must be fairly potent or surely the mix of venoms would have made him sick. To Serverus' knowledge there was no way for him to have such a toxin without some outward sign. Severus' own hair and sallow complexion were the result of his own efforts to avoid being poisoned.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Harry knew his time in court was coming to an end, months had gone by. To that end he was starting to use his money and his elf to create safe houses and alternate identities. He planned to disappear thoroughly. It helped that Their Excellencies had only seen him in his sapphire blue contacts that he was almost out of, and auburn hair caused by dye which he was also almost out of. For his next disguise he intended to go back to his natural color hair to darken his skin and wear the amber colored contacts, He had thought long and hard about what alias he intended to use, his acquaintance with the darker side of Dudley's comic collection had only provided four names for him to utilize Kent Allard, Bruce Wayne, Lamont Cranston, and Christopher (Kit) Walker. He had debated using his own name but decided he'd rather hold that one back for when he wanted to disappear entirely. The tricky part of leaving court was what to do with his girls.

They would need clothes, money, places to live, food. Those were easy. Harder was papers, wands, training, and last but the most important that damn thrall spell taken off. It obviously could be done. That was one of the problems that the dark duo had with Mr. Riddle. He tended to attack camps where thralls were and freed the thralls in those camps.

It had taken him many months before he learned the girls' back stories. Heidi's was the easiest. She was, as he had been supposed, part veela, therefore automatically second class. She had just enough veela blood (1/8) to generate a slight allure, but not enough for her to get any of the protections.

Arundhati had been the sheltered daughter of a witch and wizard in India. The schools there weren't like in Europe yet. Her days were at school but nights were home with her parents. That was until the overlord of their district had taken a fancy to her and her parents had refused to consider his suit for her hand. Her parents were declared traitors to the state and killed. She had then been taken to be a thrall in the overlord's harem. The ironic part was culling inspectors from the imperial court had found and taken her before the local lord could.

Rose had a heart too soft for her own good. She had been at school and saw the cruelty of how the muggles were treated in the Empire, and had objected loudly. The next thing she knew she was a second class citizen.

Tamara was the only one of the girls who eventually shared his bed by her own choice. She joined him one night after having a nightmare. It was from her he found out what life for a second class citizen was truly like. She gave him comfort from his own disturbed dreams. They became close and took on an almost surrogate parent's role to the teenage girls. Tamara frequently made sure that Harry didn't mistake their shared moments of passion and comfort for love. Harry realized that after her experiences Tamara wasn't emotionally where she could really love anyone, and he was always careful to cast contraceptive spells.

Tamara had been a muggleborn sent through the state schools she had even graduated with her wand. It was when she had gotten to her state supplied job as a midwife, and actually saw the life a second class citizen led, that her conscience awoke. Unknown to her, her boss had applied for a marriage license intending to force her into marriage and when she found out she refused. Three weeks later she was a thrall and wandless. As a thrall her magic had been bound,she had been forced to her boss' bed, raped and a fortnight later she was pregnant. Female thralls once pregnant were shuffled into camps where they were given food and watched. If they tried to harm themselves or their babies, they were put under the imperious curse. Studies done by the Empire had shown that for magical babies to thrive they needed to have contact with the witch that was their biological mother at least until age one. For the first four months the babies were with their mothers 24/7 but at age 5 months the babies were taken and the mothers saw them 6 times a day and were basically wet-nurses. Only getting to hold their babies while nursing and each month the amount of contact was lessened until at age one the babies were taken away completely either to a state home or to their fathers. As soon as that happened the women were farmed back out to once again be impregnated. It had only been a culling inspector finding her pretty enough for the Imperial court that spared her from a repeat performance by her previous boss.

Second class males weren't spared this depravity. There were women with whole harems of men and men whose preferences lay with their own sex using the male second class citizens. Males who frequently doubled as imperiused bodyguards or private gladiators. Harry felt badly knowing that Lilly and James of this universe both lived such an existence.

Dominica's and the twins' parents had been citizens of good standing. The twin's mother even being a house mother in one of the houses owned by the state for the babies of thralls. In both cases their parents objected to the idea that they should let the state raise their children, and had hidden their children's existence. Once they made that decision, they had become part of the resistance.

Harry had asked lots of questions about the resistance, but despite their trust of Harry, the girls were very close-mouthed. Siobhan and Sinead both knew a lot about the resistance. As twins who shared the strongest of bonds, they were exceptional occlumens and even as babies had been capable of communication over distance spells practically in their sleep. Thus they had served as the point of contact for their parents' cell and several others from the time they were seven. They had been spared torture as such, only because no one realized them capable fulfilling that role, seeing only two young and exceptional beautiful witches. All the twins knew was what was said of Harry at court, and that was enough for them to keep what they knew of the resistance to themselves.

Two months later Harry was pleased with himself, he'd done it. He'd figured out solutions to his two most pressing problems. He'd figured out a way to imbed half a dozen spells into parchment, that were part glamor, and part legilemens. Parchment that showed the person looking at it exactly what they expected to see. Told they were identity papers that is exactly what they would see, ditto for travel papers. He grinned. If he ever got back to his own universe, he'd have to thank Dudley. The idea for this paper came from the T.V. show Dr. Who that was part of Dudley's rebellious stage, because it was full of what Vernon had called nonsense. Come to think of it, he could always call himself the Doctor, no, that would be too corny but John Smith had possibilities. More to Harry's joy he'd figured out how to break the damn thrall spells, but that would have to wait until they were clear of the court.

One night a week later, he gave orders to Marguerite to pack everything. They would be leaving before dawn. He then went to the court banquet. "Good evening, Your Supreme Excellencies."

"Mr. Luthor." Grindelwald half snarled. He was tired of this young, but powerful, man's refusals to join himself and his consort in bed and his endless, but reasonable, explanations of why he wasn't ready to go after Riddle yet. It had been twenty-nine months and the Empire needed to be shut of the resistance ages ago.

"I thought I would inform you I intend to take my leave."

"It's about time." muttered Lord Prince.

Harry gave a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Success comes from having a firm foundation. I'm sorry it appeared as if I was loitering in your court, but being pulled to this universe from an alternate reality meant I needed to know many things before I was ready. I shall be ever grateful for your hospitality."

That night upon his return to his rooms Harry took hold of the port-key he had created. He got all of his household to touch it. Then with a smile at the havoc he knew this would cause, he activated it.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The aristocratic blonde woman entered the somewhat shady pub, ordinarily she wouldn't be caught alive or dead in a place such as this but she had extremely urgent news and Thomas Potter needed to get this news to the head of the resistance as soon as possible. Keeping the hood of her cloak up to hide her features she asked the bartender "Thomas Potter?"

He said, "Third door on the right."

She left a silver piece on the counter, as she turned to the hall. She knocked softly.

Thomas Potter opened the door of his room. His visitor swiftly entered. "Thomas, thank Merlin that you are here."

"Narcissa? What are you...what has happened that you would risk yourself to come here?"

"Lucius got stuck in a meeting with Lord Prince. But Draco and Sirius sent news that the hunt has begun, you must warn the leader."

"I'll send it. Now go before you are noticed."

She apparated away.

The hunt had begun. He had spent the last two years wondering when the hunter summoned to this universe would begin it. It was disconcerting to know that he had proven to be such a thorn in the Supreme Excellencies' sides that they would go to such extremes to kill him. His court spies had been very thorough, he had actually gotten a copy of the contract that might very well be the end of himself. To most of those in his spy network he was Thomas Potter, a lieutenant of the leader of the resistance, but the reality was he didn't trust his network to anyone else. He used legilimency every time he met with one of his spies. They all knew it and not one protested, because they all understood that it was the only way to protect the organization. Thomas kept himself safe through a series of misdirection and subterfuge, not the least of which was his list of aliases.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Harry Potter, its characters and settings are the exclusive property of JK Rowling, Scholastic books and Warner Bros. Films. I get nothing for the stories I write using these characters and settings. All I get and I love when I get them is reviews from my readers. This story is a collaboration with Darkshaddowedrose. Betaed by alix33.

Yet Again

Chapter 4

Harry looked out the door of the small manor he had Marguerite buy in the Cotswolds of England. He had enjoyed getting the girls away from the court and he had help from Marguerite to find another elf Donnie. Between the two elves the manor quickly became a very comfortable place. After he had a week to rest from putting up heavy wards, and a fidelus, and all the work and errands associated with making a home, Harry called the girls together and using the Elder wand did the ritual that allowed him to overpower and break the binding spell that was the foundation of the thrall enslavement spell. As the last binds on the last girl fell, Harry collapsed into a heap on the floor.

Sinead and Siobhan felt awestruck because for the first time in a couple of years their mental reach extended beyond their twin. The only person they had ever heard of breaking the thrall spell was the leader of the resistance and rumor had it he was hard-pressed to break more than two in a day. Harry had just broken it for seven people. The girls quickly worked together to tuck Harry into his bed.

Harry slept for three days. When he awoke he gathered himself together and made a list. He headed to London, but before he left he donned what he dubbed his Kit Walker disguise: a potion to darken his skin, amber contacts, and potions to cause his locks to revert to their natural black and lengthen till he could ponytail it. In London he sought out the shadier side of things by asking questions about getting a custom wand. Paying out silver when he deemed the information worthwhile. Eventually his hunt led him to a wand maker, to his surprise the wand maker was Ollivander. Harry asked, "Do you make custom wands?"

"All I do is custom wands anymore, damn empire tries to control everything. You pay me, I make your wands. I don't report and neither do you. If you want for a bottle of firewhiskey thrown in I probably won't even remember your wand."

"I want seven wands and I'll make it a case."

"Seven? But no questions. It will take two weeks."

"I'm surprised a wand maker with your skills doesn't have a job within the empire. I'd also like permission for a minor obliviate. I'll make it worth your while."

"How worth my while?"

"The price of three wands."

"The price of three wands and you supply my room and board while I make them."

"Done."

Harry discovered as he did his shopping that books teaching magic were considered contraband, and was highly amused to find that books like _Standard Book of Spells Grade 1_ were treated as Dark Arts books were in his home universe. He finished his shopping and collected Ollivander

he called Marguerite and had her share the secret of the manor. Then side along apparated Ollivander through the heavy wards. At the manor the seven girls greeted him and were surprised when he introduced Ollivander by name.

The girls weren't the only ones surprised. Ollivander was shocked because he hadn't gone by his name for a long time longer than the young wizard had been alive. His name was on a wanted list in the empire and he hadn't gone by it for more than thirty years. But after having felt the wards and judging by the secrecy the young man had about this home he figured he didn't have much to worry about. After an elf helped him to settle in a room, he got to work making wands. He was surprised that he was actually making wands for the girls. When he got to Siobhan and Sinead's wands it was obvious the three knew each other, Harry noticed but said nothing not wishing to pressure the girls. He had other leads to find the resistance that he would follow up on first.

It took three months, but Harry finally made a contact. A month later he helped the resistance hit one of the empire's staging grounds for creating thralls in the British Isles. The place where the spells were actually placed on the citizens second class. He took great joy in shattering the wards that protected it. The target had been picked because the empire had recently caught several cells and the resistance members who had been caught would know who the empire's spy was. While the head of the cell he worked with debriefed the captured resistance members, Harry bound the oversight witch and her helpers' magic. Carefully made the release word in parseltongue figuring no one who could undo it would. His fellow resistance members said, "Shouldn't we just kill them?"

Harry smiled benignly, "Which is more just, merely depriving them of their lives or depriving them of that which they has deprived others of? Depriving them of that which makes them superior. I know no one will be able to release them from what I've done, now if we obliviate their knowledge of our faces we're in the clear without blood on our hands. We destroy this place and it's done."

After several minutes debate the others agreed. The report of the attack's aftermath slowly made its way up the chain of resistance cells. Over the next year Harry participated in several attacks. He had worked himself into a position of planning and overseeing the attacks for all cells in a two hundred kilometer radius. He also taught the girls every defensive charm he knew and with Tamara's help most of them had gotten a solid grasp of healing spells and the girls without previous training were around a midway through third year education. Furthermore Kit Walker had come to the attention of the head of the resistance.

Tom Marvolo Riddle, aka Thomas Potter by his close associates, sat in his fideliused cottage in Godric's Hollow Wales for the first time in fifteen months. He had inherited the cottage from his adoptive mother, Callista Potter. Callista had inherited the seven room cottage from her family the Potters, one of the Ancient and Noble Houses that could trace themselves further back than the founding. That Godric Gryffindor's second son had married the last of the Potter line, a daughter, and taken the name to give it new life had not hurt. Thomas always smiled when he thought of the proud history of his adoptive family.

Callista, named for her ancestress, had been a squib, rather than hiding her away or even quietly seeing to it she died in an accident as was fairly common in the magical world, the Potters had sent Callista to the best muggle schools and eventually the newly founded College of Nursing. She had been at the orphanage where Thomas had been placed as a baby doing health checks on the day he did his first accidental magic. While not a witch herself she recognized it for what it was and promptly made arrangements to adopt Thomas. Calling upon her father to aid her in getting custody since courts were reluctant to allow single women to adopt children even if they were over thirty and well established in their career. But with her father and brother Charlus' help Thomas got a loving home where he was understood and encouraged. After the adoption was finalized, Thomas and his mum had moved to a property closer to her family so he would have ready access to proper male role models (one of the conditions of the adoption). His mother became a traveling nurse in their district in Wales. Thomas while adopted in the Muggle system wasn't blood adopted magically since his mum didn't have magic. The Potters had helped him to trace his birth family once they learned all of his birth name. The things he found out about his birth parents made him even more grateful to his mum.

At Hogwarts, he attended under his birth name at his grandfather's urging. He hadn't understood until later why, but his grandfather had seen the way the wind was blowing throughout Europe's magical community and had tried to protect him. His had been the longest sort on record but in the end his blood from his birth mother and his drive to make his mum proud had tipped him into Slytherin where he made a name for himself as a courageous, smart, hard-working, highly principled person who never looked at house or blood but always at actions. He was head-boy his seventh year and one of the most popular students in the history of Hogwarts. Many of his fellow students believed he would one day be Minister of Magic.

Hogwarts, he had such fond memories of the place. The Hogwarts wards had sealed themselves following the death of its last Headmaster Armando Dippet. Many said it was because of the ethics and practices of the Empire. Hogwarts wouldn't allow its knowledge to be taken and misused the way the Empire misused its magical knowledge. In proof they pointed at the way texts that had been taken from Hogwarts originally mysteriously vanished overnight. Thomas agreed with this viewpoint, because it was the first time in history the fail-safes put in place by the founders noted in the Potter family journals of Godric's son came into play.

In the years after Hogwarts closed, Thomas lost his grandparents, his uncle, aunt, and young cousin and last and most devastating of all his mother to the Empire. He still searched for James and he held most of the Potter heirlooms including the family cloak in trust for the day he found and freed his cousin.

Thomas knew there was a rather hefty price on his head. His tendency to use guerrilla strike and run tactics, his constant efforts to remove the Empire's control over the second and third class citizens in the Empire, and the spell and potion creation he did just about guaranteed he was the number one target of the Empire. So much so that the rulers frustrated at their lack of ability to corner him, had brought in a special person just to hunt him down. Some nights he found it hard to sleep wondering where that hunter was.

Lex Luthor had completely disappeared, and according to Thomas' spies at court that made not only Thomas uneasy but Their Supreme Arseholes were also nervous. Thomas tried to ignore it and get on with the business of interfering with the Empire's control. Sometimes as he looked at his mum's picture, he wondered if he'd actually see the end of the Empire or if it was a pipe dream. He had spent forty years fighting the empire. Aside from a two year love affair with an American witch twenty some years ago he had been and was mostly alone. It felt as if he could spend his whole life fighting, and have nothing meaningful to show for it not even someone who loved him. He gave himself a mental kick, Merlin, he sounded maudlin.

"Thomas?"

"Yes, Lily?"

"The leaders here in the isles want to call a meeting. Millie gave a prophecy. Apparently it happened at a section meeting and Hyrum thinks he knows who it's about. He thinks you should meet him."

Thomas looked at Lily Evans, she was a muggleborn witch. She had excelled in school but when her family was arrested for sedition because her father taught local children history she had been made into a second class citizen despite being top of her class. Unfortunately for the Empire Lily had been bright enough that she had read not just her year's texts but all the texts for all the years including texts used for masteries of arithmancy, charms, and potions. Lily had an eidetic memory. She also had a grudge that wouldn't quit against the empire. Which meant if he was number one on the Empire's list, Lily had probably worked her way to number two.

He'd broken her out of a thrall encampment two years ago and freed her of the binding. Once he broke the thrall spell controlling her powers and provided her a wand, she became his best soldier and a trusted second in command. She even knew all of his spies. She had created entire arrays of specialized attack spells and potions. She was also the only other person he had met capable of brewing the golem potion. She had managed to learn the phrase in parseltongue and imbue it with the right amount of magic that made the potion bind instead of explode.

Although only in her early forties, she easily passed for someone older. She had once been a beautiful woman but eight forced pregnancies and unkind masters had marked her. Her once auburn hair was a mix of faded red and white and she had a scar that ran from her forehead to her chin on the left side of her face. Her left eye once a bright emerald was now clouded, if she'd ever had laugh lines they had long ago faded, instead lines furrowed her brow and her mouth was downturned. She was fitter than one would expect a woman who had borne eight children to be. Her personality though, was where you could really see the marks of her years. She hated to be touched in anyway and was reclusive, preferring not to be away from someplace she considered safe. Thomas had hidden her here at Godric's Hollow because it was a safe place from which she could work and also because it was close to the graveyard. In the graveyard was a crypt belonging to the Potter family. That crypt was a fidelius protected drop point; one of six throughout the Empire where resistance leaders came for the potion that made the golems possible.

"Is Hyrum due for potion anytime soon?"

"Yeah, his group has been real active lately. Rumor has it you're no longer the only wizard who can break the thrall spell."

Tom raised an eyebrow. To break the thrall spell one had have knowledge of the spell, something that had taken his network of spies seven years to learn. Not to mention, you had to be a grand sorcerer level wizard. With only one or two of those born a generation at most worldwide, he wondered where this one had come from. As well as wondering where he had acquired the knowledge.

"His group and two others have taken out three interment camps and one thrall making facility with help from a few other cells. That's how he met this other person."

"Did you find out Millie's prophecy?"

"Ware the Dragon of Justice, the Master of Death comes, Seekers of the Hallows fall, Harbinger of Death and Justice come. Son of snake and lion come nestle at his feet. Not to worship but to learn, a new age is born, Sacred knowledge born again, the new world is born."

"Obscure. Why does Hyrum think he knows who it's about."

"Apparently, this new member of his is really powerful. He's the one that can break the thrall spell."

"Interesting."

"Also apparently this guy is a completely kick-arse fighter, but has a sense of justice that doesn't quit. Instead of killing the workers at the thrall factory, he bound the workers' magic and wiped their memories of the resistance fighters."

"Sense of justice indeed." Thomas wondered where this new fighter learned such things they hadn't been taught in forty years.

To Thomas' surprise Lily actually smiled, "Yeah, couldn't happen to a nicer bunch. We're running out of places to put the thralls that have been freed from the camps but not yet from the spells, not to mention places to school the children. Olivander is having difficulties getting core materials and wand wood. It doesn't help the Empire has upped the bounty on him too; six months ago he lost half his stock because someone tried to collect."

"It is times like these, when I wish,we hadn't lost contact with those outside the Empire. I can—we can only do so much."

"Black is back from court he has a ton of data for you and he says, "He wants to spend a month or so reminding himself why putting up with the court nonsense is necessary.""

"He's getting burned out?"

"That's the way I interpret his last message."

"At least we still have three others at court to observe. Message Sirius he gets his wish. I'm leery of Hyrum's recruit. He's saying and doing the right things, but I don't put it past him to be Lex Luthor in disguise. I want someone with me who has seen Luthor when I meet this recruit. Anything else or can I get some shut eye?"

"That's it for the urgent stuff."

"Thanks Lily, I don't know what I would do without you."

"Die of overwork probably."

"Har-Har"

"How did stuff go overseas?"

"I got the new cells in India set,.The ones in the Pyrenees had actually managed to get rid of all the Empire Enforcers. Now it's a matter of keeping them gone and restructuring to meet the needs of the people there."

"Will they be able to?"

"I have no idea. I hope so. Sometimes I wonder if we'll ever see an end to the Empire."

"Get some rest, you're too tired, and it's making you melancholy."

Tom couldn't help it he grinned. "Yes, mother," he told the younger woman.

She slapped at his shoulder but left for the potions lab in the basement.

Tamara had joined Harry in working with the resistance, as well as Siobhan and Sinead. She proved very good at working through a golem. Harry worked hard at trying to get a golem to work but seemed unable to link successfully. As result he was frequently the on-site commander during an attack, the relay of the golems made it hard for an overall view of the target and the fact the mundane resistance member needed a magical to ferry them to and from the site via portkey meant at least one magical member of an attack had to be there. Harry played with the arithmancy equations of the spells used for the golems and came to the conclusion that he was too powerful and he didn't have the finesse to make it work. That was the biggest drawback to his powers he had found. Some of the most advanced spells meant to be worked by less powerful witches and wizards wouldn't work for him, because his powers were more apt to try and increase the power used in attempting to make things work rather than finesse its way through.

Harry found himself acting as a teacher for the second time in his life. The DA had been driven mostly by Hermione and focusing on the practical, but here he found himself teaching both theory and the practical of magic of all kinds from the basics and to the advanced and to his surprise he enjoyed it. His students were a mix, some were children of resistance members, who spent most of their lives hidden so the empire couldn't take them from their families, and some were thralls recently freed. Harry's girls had started joining him for these classes as tutors for the newer students. He spent roughly half his time teaching and the rest was evenly divided between life's little necessities like sleep and food, looking at planned attacks and figuring out their weaknesses and how to counter those weaknesses, and participating in the attacks on the empire.

While Harry was actively working with the resistance, he noticed a few things: these people didn't really have a grasp of what all they were fighting, and most of them only had a cursory knowledge of what they were fighting for. Harry counted it as a mark of how long most of them had been fighting and the effectiveness of the Empire's methods. He wondered if Tom had plans for what the world would look like when the Empire was defeated. He wondered if Tom knew about him being up against the effects of the Elixir of Life. After all, the Philosopher's Stone might not be as widely known of here.

Harry also was certain Grindelwald had made a horcrux. The man had given him that not all there vibe that he associated with the Toms of his past, and he wasn't talking mentally though that applied too. Dumbledore was all there but Harry was willing to bet Grindlewald had hedged his bets. Harry's biggest question was what would Grindelwald have used. To figure that out, Harry needed resources he no longer had. It had taken the months away from court for Harry to define the disquiet he had felt around the man and why. Needless to say he really wanted to meet the man responsible for the resistance soon, as something in his gut told him they didn't have long before things went the rest of the way to hell in a handbasket.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Harry Potter its characters and settings are the exclusive property of JK Rowling, Scholastic books and Warner Bros. Films. I get nothing for the stories I write using these characters and settings. All I get and I love when I get them is reviews from my readers. This story is a collaboration with Darkshaddowedrose.

Yet Again

Chapter 5

"Kit, can I talk to you."

"Sure Will, everyone keep practicing I'll be back in a minute."

"What's up?"

"I've spoken to those that are higher up. You've been noticed and there's been a prophecy someone higher thinks you might fit. Needless to say the higher coordinators want to meet you. Are you alright?"

Harry a.k.a. Kit had gone pale at the words there's been a prophecy. He shook himself a little, "I'm fine."

"Anyway I'm to give you apparition coordinates, You'll go to the cafe across the street and someone will give you further instructions. Wear some thing green, the code phrase is "what's the festive occasion?" Your answer is "it felt like spring."

"Okay. When?"

"Tomorrow morning. Eight o'clock."

"Fine."

Harry found himself mentally going through possible scenarios for the remainder of his day and through the night. At six he gave up trying to sleep, and went through his preparations. He made sure he had everything he needed for every possibility he had thought of. He told Tamara, as he left, "You're in charge. Keep things going for me?"

"Sure."

Harry had decided that the girls needed information so he had informed them of the truth of who and to a degree what he was after having gotten a wizarding oath from each of them. "If I'm not back in two weeks, I left a folder with instructions in my study. There's some critical information for the resistance there. If I don't come back then have Sinead and Siobhan transmit what is there far and wide. I actually hope to tell the leader what is there myself but if today is a trap..."

"I'll see to it."

"Thanks, well I'm off or I'll be late."

Harry apparated away to the coordinates. He appeared in a town square across from a street cafe. He got himself a cup of tea and a scone, and sat where he could soak up the most sun. It was one of the traits he had gotten from his animagus form. If there was sun he was usually sitting in it. He had been there for twenty minutes when a empire auror came up to him.

"Papers."

Harry calmly handed him the small paper folder with the psychic paper in it, "I'm Kit Walker. What's this about, Auror?"

"These are very good..."

"And?"

"You are dressed very brightly today what's the festive occasion?"

Harry was surprised that an auror of the empire was his contact but didn't let his surprise show. "It felt like spring. Is their a problem with my papers, sir?"

Harry's sharp eyes noticed as the auror added a folded piece of paper to the folder. "No, everything is in order." He handed Harry back the papers, then left as if continuing his rounds. Harry tucked his ID back into his pocket then finished his tea. As he strolled away from the cafe he reached back into his pocket and pulled out the note. Another set of coordinates, a time eight hours from now, a suggestion to double-check he wasn't being followed and this time a name, Dennis. Harry spent his day doing apparitions looking at coordinates from other universes. At the appropriate time he appeared at the coordinates and was met by a young boy who was muggle and obviously a Down's Syndrome child.

"Dennis?"

"I'm taking you to Jake."

"Thank you." He followed the boy for a couple kilometers. He was led to a small farm, and into a barn.

"Grab some of that hay and put it in the first manger if you would."

Harry did as asked.

The other man in the stable was heavy set and older. His gray hair was a slight fringe under the edge of his cap. "You're right powerful, remarkably unprejudiced, and a wicked fighter. Since you joined the resistance we've captured more of our targets for less cost. A month ago the leadership in England was meeting and a prophecy was spoken. Do you want to know what it said?"

"NO! Not really, in general I hate prophecy and if it has to do with me, or others think it has to do with me, I like it even less. Glorious destinies result it grand funerals, and I like living if you please."

The other man laughed heartily. "That's very funny. Okay, I'll keep the prophecy to myself. But I still have to tell you you've been noticed by the leadership, for your ability to plan and carry out attacks and the rumor you can break the slavery spell. The leader wants to meet you."

"So that is what this is about?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, take me to the leader."

"It don't work like that, I'll be taking you to a place where you'll meet his second and another. If they say so then you'll meet the leader, but first I need to finish tending the animals and I ain't a wizard."

Harry smirked and pulled out his holly wand. "What needs doing yet?"

Thirty minutes later Jake said "Thank you for the help. That was the easiest barn cleaning I can ever remember. Let me clean up and then we'll be on our way."

Half an hour later they were approaching a small hamlet. Jake said, "I dare not go any farther that town is Wizards only, go through to the pub "The Prancing Pony" ask for Thomas Potter. The keeper will direct you from there."

"Thank you, Jake"

Harry had just spotted The Prancing Pony and wondered if Tolkien had written his famous books in this world, when an auror approached him. "Who are you? I haven't seen you here before."

Harry answered calmly. "I'm Lamont Cranston and I'm here on business. I'm meeting someone about some thralls."

"Your papers."

Harry calmly reached into the inner pocket of his robes and extracted the packet of psychic paper from his pocket, "As you can see, auror, that is not only my ID but also my Imperial commission as a thrall dealer. Is there something else you need to see?"

"No." He looked intimidated by the second sheet of paper Harry carried in his wallet.

Harry fought an internal grin from becoming an outward grin. The paper really was his best invention. It played on the suggestive nature of man so well. If he needed ID it was ID, if he needed documents they were documents stating whatever he told people they stated.

Sirius Black was looking out over the street from the window of The Prancing Pony. The resistance member leading the man known as Kit Walker to them had a farm four kilometers away. He saw the man he suspected was Kit Walker approaching. Just before the man was about to enter the inn he was stopped by an auror. Sirius felt an sudden urge to panic. Except for the members that served as spies ID for active resistance members was hard to get. Walker had been credited with a lot of activity. Walker handed the Auror some sheets of paper. Sirius could see them from his angle and they were blank. So Sirius was astonished that the auror handed him back the papers and left.

"Okay Thomas, that was odd."

"What, Sirius?

"If that's Walker, he handed an auror blank papers and the auror just handed them back and left."

"Did he obliviate him?"

"Huh?"

Thomas was reminded that by the time Sirius was born oblivations were a thing of the past. "Never mind" he told his godson. "So, is it Luthor?"

"I don't know the coloring is completely wrong but the build is similar. We're going to have to let him closer."

"Great."

"Relax, Uncle Thomas. Between us, I doubt you'll die even if it is Luthor. After all he thinks he's meeting your second Thomas Potter."

"You're right."

A few moments later there was a knock on the door.

Sirius opened the door.

**A/N: Mean of me I know to think of ending the chapter there...**.

.

.

.

**Alright I'll be nice. By the way this** _**~is parseltongue~**_

Harry was startled to realize Sirius was the person opening the door. It was only the control he had cultivated while living at court that kept him from reacting. But there was part of him that was gleeful to realize the version of his beloved godfather that existed in this universe was a member of the resistance.

Further shocks came as he stepped into the room. Harry looked at the man referred to as Thomas Potter and knew him in an instant as Tom Marvolo Riddle. Part of him smiled deep with satisfaction, he'd found Tom, now he could find some answers. The only question was would he be Gryffindor or Slytherin about it.

Tom's sense of magic gave him the sense of great power that was completely leashed, the young man was the most powerful wizard he had ever been around.

Sirius was looking frantically at Thomas, this was Luthor!

Harry sat down. He knew now why Sirius was here; it was to identify Harry. Harry calmly took a seat and non threateningly as possible he placed his holly wand on the table. He then scooted his chair back and propped his feet on the table. He knew he was seconds from being hexed but he acted as if he had all the time in the world. He thought about snakes and speaking to snakes. Then he spoke, not as a man but in parseltongue.

"_**~Relax Tom Marvolo Riddle. I'm not here to kill you, contrary to popular belief.~"**_

_** "~You're a parseltongue... Are we related?"~**_

_** "~I think maybe we should switch to English; your court spy over there looks ready to burst. He may even try to do me harm.~"**_

"Relax Sirius."

"But-"

"You should listen to the leader, Sirius. It can save your life or save you from a ton of embarrassment."

"But you're Lex Luthor, you were brought here to kill-"

"Let's just say Their Supreme Nasties were a little stupid, and made a few assumptions. Assumptions I didn't bother to correct."

"But the contract, I've read and copied it."

"Yes, I'm sure you did. I want you to think carefully, did the contract have a completion date?"

"No."

"Did it give any sort of payment to me?"

"No, but I thought-"

"I was very careful, Mr. Black. If I kill our mutual friend Mr." Harry paused, "Potter here, I get paid an outrageous sum. However because I accepted no fee up front I am not committed to killing him, I was very careful that way. I negotiated the contract separate from how I negotiated my life with the court. From the moment I arrived here, I had a very clear picture of their Imperial Excellencies, I figured that "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." was likely, but if I had said as much at court I would have been killed. I am powerful, but not immortal and definitely not stupid."

"Very Slytherin of you, Mr. Luthor."

"Call me Kit, I've dropped my Lex Luthor identity. It's less confusing for me." Harry smirked at the confounded expressions on this version of his godfather and Tom's faces. "If I may," he gestured at the wand on the tabletop, "I'm willing to give an oath that I'll do no harm to you or the resistance as long as none of you try to do me deliberate harm."

Thomas looked at the young man across from him. He nodded.

Harry scooped his wand up from the table and swore, "I swear on my magic to do no harm to Tom Marvolo Riddle or any members of the resistance as long as none of them try to do me deliberate harm. So mote it be." The flare of his oath was clear in the small room. "Now, how serious were you about wanting me to move up the chain of command, what are your goals and plans for when we get rid of the Empire, and how much do you know about their Imperial Excellencies?"

"It's Thomas Potter, and to answer your questions very, what do you mean? And not as much as I would like."

Harry smiled, "It looks like we have some talking to do."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thomas made an invitation for Kit to come to stay at his cottage in Godric's Hollow. When Kit accepted he added that both Sirius and his other godson Lucius would be there so they and Lily would be privy to the discussion with Kit. He some how got the feeling Kit wasn't the man's real name but he also got the feeling that the younger man was much older in experience than he was in years. That feeling doubled when Harry sent a Patronus message to Tamara to let her know she didn't have to worry, things had gone well but that he was likely to be gone for some time. If she needed him she would need to Patronus him back.

As they left The Prancing Pony Thomas whispered the secret of the cottage to Kit. He really couldn't explain why he felt almost compelled to trust the younger man. He sent Sirius to collect Lucius and then he side along apparated Kit to his cottage.

Harry was astonished; Tom's Godric's Hollow cottage was in fact the cottage his parents had lived in prior to the attack that took their lives. He couldn't completely control his expression.

"What? Why are you looking at my home that way?"

"That would be a very long story. I'll tell it but I ask for your story in return."

Tom found himself thinking of Millie's prophecy. Ware the dragon of justice, according to Sirius the young man beside him was a dragon animagus and according to resistance members he was very into justice. He wondered what the rest of the prophecy meant.

"Lily, I'm back." He announced loudly as he entered the cottage.

"So?" she emerged from the potions lab in the basement.

"Lily Evans, this is Kit Walker. He'll be staying a few days so we can discuss some things. The boys will be coming soon too."

Lilly groaned.

"They need to know this too."

"I know, but they-"

"I won't let them pull their usual shenanigains."

"They'll still expect me to cook." She frowned.

Tom frowned too. Lily had many talents and was a wonderful potions mistress but for some reason cooking a meal wasn't on that list. Tom himself was an indifferent cook, but both his godsons were spoiled between living at court or holding high positions here in Britain. Both men complained bitterly if their meals were less than perfect.

Harry looked at the grimaces on both their faces, "I take it neither of you is a good cook."

"No." Their voices rang in unison.

"You're in luck then, I happen to be an excellent cook. Lead me to the kitchen and we'll see what you have that I can start for tea." Harry poked through the pantry cupboards and decided to make shepherd's pie, welsh rarebit, salad, and a berry cobbler. Tom and Lilly watched as he calmly started to make the meal using a mix of magical and muggle techniques. Harry was glad he had something to focus on. Discovering his mum, or rather the woman who would have been, had been freed was wonderful, but weird because he wasn't sure how to interact with her. Just as Harry pulled the last of the meal from the oven there was a knock on the door. Tom left to answer it. Moments later he was back Sirius and Lucius Malfoy in tow.

"Something smells good." Sirius blurted as he came through the kitchen door.

"Sit down it's ready." Harry said. The next twenty minutes were mostly quiet as all of them demolished the excellent meal.

"Alright Kit, thank you for making such an excellent meal. Now we need to know more about you."

"Alright, as you know I was summoned here via a dark ritual Winter Solstice four and a half, almost five years ago. Their Excellencies wanted someone to defeat you Tom—Thomas, someone of experience at doing so. For some reason I have been pulled from other universes in similar rituals before and I have experience in shall we say ending the ambitions that ruled you in those places. However they made a couple of errors one they assumed that because I had offed you in those other universes I would here as well. In those other worlds you are, or rather were the sort of person their excellencies are in this world. I don't like power-hungry abusers. Never have, never will. For that reason I will join with you but what I want to know is what are your goals and beliefs? And more importantly, what do you propose to replace the Empire with?"

"I don't know. I started the resistance because the Empire was destroying whole families. Abraxas, Lucius father, joined me because he thought Great Britain should be ruled by the British not some – How did he phrase it, Lucius?"

"Jumped-up, self-important, dark, German wizard and his poncey, morally bankrupt, cock-sucking, and deranged English lover with delusions of grandeur."

Harry couldn't help it the alliteration was too perfect he laughed. "That was brilliant!"

"Yeah. I miss Abraxas."

Harry quickly sobered. "I will help you, but you need to be aware this won't be easy. Their Excellencies have the Philosopher's stone, Grindelwald also has the Elder wand, and he probably has a horcrux."

On seeing looks of confusion on their faces, Harry said the pieces again slower. "Philosopher's Stone?" No comprehension. "Elder Wand?" still nothing. Harry didn't bother with the third piece they were so obscure almost no one had heard of them. Harry reached up and massaged his scalp in vexation. "Okay, Sirius, I know you played watcher on me more than once. What did I do with seventy percent of my time?"

"Research."

"What kind?"

"Mostly about people and magic."

"That's right. One of the people I researched was Nicholas Flamel, who is a; I should say was a brilliant alchemist, and the only known maker of a philosopher's stone. What makes him, or rather it, so important is it has two very special properties. It transforms base metals such as lead into gold, and it's used to make Elixir of Life a very potent potion that consumed regularly gives the drinker life and health. Regularly consumed it grants a type of immortality."

Lucius spoke, "That's why they have ceased aging and seem to have endless funds for their perversions?"

Harry nodded.

"So we need to find the stone and destroy it." Thomas stated.

"Yes plus any already made Elixir."

"The elder wand?" Sirius asked.

"Are any of you acquainted with the tale of the three brothers?"

Tom thought he half remembered a fairy tale his mother had read him long ago that went by that name. "Sort of. I know I've heard of it."

"The story is that three brothers were walking in the twilight and came to a river they wanted to cross. The river was horrible, many had drowned there. The three brothers worked magic together and made a bridge to cross safely. Death appeared to them and congratulated them at bypassing him. He offered them gifts as a reward. The oldest was the fighting type he asked for a wand worthy of Death. Death snapped a branch from a nearby elder tree and gave him the unbeatable wand he asked for." Harry drew a line on the paper that was in front of him.

"The second brother asked for a way to call back the dead, he wanted to humiliate Death. Death gathered a rock from the riverbank and gave it to him." Harry drew a circle.

"The third and youngest brother asked for something that would enable him to go forth from that place without being followed by Death. Death reluctantly handed over his own cloak of invisibility." Harry drew a triangle. "Look familiar?"

"The symbol of the Empire ," said the other four.

"The story goes the eldest brother had the stupidity to brag about his new unbeatable wand. He was killed in his sleep for the wand and it has been passed from one hand to another by means of Death and betrayal. The second brother called his lost love, but the stone, while it allowed for conversation, didn't allow the dead to come completely back. He went mad from longing and killed himself to be with his dead love. The youngest used his cloak to live a long life, at the end of his life he handed the cloak to his son and went to join Death peaceably."

"But that's a fairy tale." Lily said.

"The Deathly Hallows are real enough. It's said that he who holds all the Hallows is the master of death. Grindelwald has the wand." Harry assured them.

"Master of Death comes, Seekers of the Hallows fall," Thomas murmured to himself.

"How do you know they are real?" Lily persisted.

Harry's expression closed. He didn't want to confess to having held all the Hallows in two universes. "They're real enough. Anyway that isn't the biggest problem; the biggest obstacle is number three. The Horcrux. I have no idea what sort of object Grindelwald would choose."

Sirius got an oily feeling around his heart at just the word. "What is a horcrux?"

"I'll tell you, however I want you to swear on your magic and your lives you have not and never will use this knowledge."

Thomas, like Sirius, just knew this was bad. He wasn't sure he even wanted to know, unfortunately to defeat his enemy this was probably another one of those damned distasteful things he'd have to do to win the war. "I, Thomas Marvolo Riddle Potter, swear on my life and my magic I have not and never will share or use the information shared with me about horcruxes."

Lucius and Sirius followed their godfather's example.

Lily looked pissed at all the men. But after sitting in silence for five minutes she finally snarled, "Fine. I, Lily Elizabeth Evans, swear on my life and my magic I have not and never will share or use the information shared with me about horcruxes."

"A horcrux is a soul anchor. A person who has one can be killed but they don't stay dead, they take on a wraith like existence. They can be resurrected by a dark ritual or a horcrux can possess another person and utilize their magical energy to resurrect themselves.. To make one they commit a deliberate cold-blooded murder. This causes the soul to fracture, they take the broken piece and place it in an object. Living Horcruxes are possible, but not particualrly desirable because they die. That's it. "

Thomas felt his stomach roll. He'd done some pretty damned distasteful things for the sake of fighting the war but this was... was..

"The good news is I doubt he has more than one. Making more than one has a rather noticeable effect on one's sanity." Harry said.

"How did you learn about Horcruxes?" Lily asked.

"I didn't have a choice. To defeat Tom in the other universes I first had to destroy his Horcruxes."

Thomas couldn't handle that. He bolted for the bathroom.

Sirius looked at Harry "You're joking."

"Nope. I did have my reasons, not the least of which was Tom's tendency to kill my nearest and dearest and anyone else he felt like offing. I think we should call it a night. Somehow I doubt Thomas is going to feel up to more tonight."

"I'll show you to the study, you can transfigure a bed or something to sleep on." Lily stood

"Thank you."

Once it was only the two of them, she rounded on him. "Thomas is a good man."

"I'm sure he is, if he weren't I wouldn't be here."

"Sirius was supposed to kill you if you came too close, why didn't he?"

"It wasn't necessary. Thomas is as you say a good man. Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald on the other hand are men who will get what is coming to them if it's the last thing I do."

"I don't know if I should believe you, but know if anything happens to Thomas I'll kill you."

"I understand. Goodnight." Harry steered her out of the room and shut the door before adding in a whisper , "Mum."


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Harry Potter its characters and settings are the exclusive property of JK Rowling, Scholastic books and Warner Bros. Films. I get nothing for the stories I write using these characters and settings. All I get and I love when I get them is reviews from my readers. This story is a collaboration with Darkshaddowedrose and betaed by Alix33.

Yet Again

Chapter 6

Harry awoke shortly after sunrise and made his way to the kitchen where he started breakfast, making eggs benedict, apple cinnamon coffee cake, and broiled tomatoes. Five minutes after he started Thomas joined him.

"I'm surprised you managed not to hex me on sight, since I...I mean my counterpart..."

"Relax, I know you're not him I figured that out a couple years ago. I have to admit to a ton of curiosity though. Thomas Potter? This house?"

"I was adopted from the Cook Orphanage in London when I was three by Callista Potter. She was the beloved daughter of Hadrian Potter and she was a squib. She had come to the orphanage to do health checks and smallpox vaccinations. I did a bit of accidental magic, she saw it and knew what it was. She wasn't married so it was very difficult for her to adopt me, but she did it. She got me out of a very negative environment. I attended Hogwarts under my birth name at my grandfather's request. Things were starting to change. He thought I would be safer if magicals didn't automatically see the connection between us. After graduation from Hogwarts I went to work as an apprentice curse breaker for Gringotts for a while, but about that time the War in the muggle world heated up. At Grandpa's request in 1946 I came home to safeguard Mum. Grandpa cast the fidelius here with me as secret keeper. Outside the village I'm Tom Riddle but here I'm Thomas Potter.

"This cottage: it has meaning for you from your own universe doesn't it? You got a strange look on your face when we apparated here."

"What happened to the rest of the Potters?"

"About 1956 the purges started, families that didn't agree with Their Excellencies started disappearing. The Weasleys, the Bones, and the Prewetts were known for their stance and disappeared first. Grandpa disappeared in '59. They didn't come for Uncle Charlus and Uncle Mike until 1966. Cousin James was only six and a half but he was so bull-headed and just like Grandpa. Grandpa had been a big advocate of keep your head down and don't be noticed by the Empire for his family, although he tried to change things through proper channels. That was especially true for me, but when they disappeared, my participation in the resistance went from minor to major. Mum died two years later in imperial vengeance in Cardiff while she was there delivering a baby, so there was no longer a reason to keep my head down. I hold the Potter family treasures in trust for James assuming I find him someday. According to census records he's still alive, but..."

"How long has Lily been here?"

"I rescued her two and a half maybe three years ago. Did you know the Potters or something in your world?"

"Yeah. Lily was married to James Potter in the other universes I've been in. This cottage was their home. What are the stories behind Sirius and Lucius, how are they related, I guess, to you?

"I went to school with their fathers, Sirius' Aunt Dorea was Uncle Charlus' wife. Both their fathers asked me to be godfather."

"They're your spies at court then?"

"Yes, although Luca hasn't been to court in eight years. Amazingly enough Luca's son Draco is also one of mine, I wish they weren't, but their families had the social position and weren't 'light' therefore it was believable that they would follow their excellencies."

'Hmm. Well, I've got breakfast done. Do you suppose we should wake them?"

"I'll get Lily. Anyone else, and she'd hex first and ask questions later."

Harry grinned, then said, "I'll get the other two." He laughed inwardly. When he got to the room Lucius and Sirius were sharing, he cast a summer refreshing charm that Sirius taught him by doing it to wake him. It made the recipient feel as if they had taken a plunge in a cool pool and washed away any sweat but left one feeling clean and refreshed and dry. Both men sat bolt upright and screamed the other's name. Which caused Harry at the door to chortle. "Rise and shine you two, breakfast is done."

Both men gawped at him for a second then rose and started to prepare for the day. Harry returned to the kitchen still snickering. Thomas raised an eyebrow at his entrance, as if to ask what was that about. Harry giggled a little. "I woke them with _Refoveo ver."_

Thomas smirked and said, "You may wish you hadn't done that Sirius can be quite..."

"Inventive? I know, but it's all in good fun and it will give us some stress release. Besides I'm up for the challenge."

Thomas just shook his head. The other three members of their group joined them and they ate.

"Delightful breakfast, Kit." Thomas said as he finished. "Now as to why we asked you here. You are a wonderful asset in a fight and that's great. But we actually wanted to bring you here because a) you can break the thrall spell, and b) rumor has it you can teach magic."

"Yes, to both of those. As far as breaking the thrall spell I've been trying to work out a way that it can be done by a group instead of just one strong wizard. But I'm no arithmancy master more an amateur at best. I really wish I could consult the Hogwarts library.

"Something I've noticed in our neck of the woods is that we need more space for freed thralls than we have. We need a protected area for families that gets the non-combatants out of the empire's reach.

"If you don't have one- from what I've gathered after last night you don't -you need to come up with a focused plan of what you want to replace the Empire with . It's a psychological thing. People will fight against oppression but they'll fight even harder if the know what it is they're fighting for. If the resistance never moves beyond they're evil therefore they should be fought, in twenty years there won't be a resistance. But if you say we're fighting so that we can be ruled locally by elected representatives, so families can stay families instead of becoming drones for the Empire and so on. You'll get a lot more people willing to say that's an idea I can get behind. Have a plan of how to achieve your goals, have plans ready for how to rebuild after the Empire collapses.

"You know who your leaders are. Make sure you differentiate between good generals and true leaders. Your leaders are as strong outside of combat as they are in it. You need to have it in place soon, or attrition will have the Empire succeeding soon. They're programing kids early, and soon you old fogies who remember something else, something better, will be gone and there will be few left who will fight."

Harry felt bad about the stricken look on the others' faces but they needed to hear it.

"But how can we? There's nowhere we can congregate without the Empire knowing and coming to take of, even kill us." Lily said.

Lucius said something Harry was sure was unprintable under his breath. Then said,"So you're telling us we're losing."

"I'm saying you need to fight smarter, focus on the whole picture. You four are the leadership of the resistance, and that's great, but it won't win you the war."

"How the hell are we supposed to do that? There is no place that we can go and actually have space where the empire won't be breathing down our necks!" Sirius shouted.

"What about Hogwarts?"

"Hogwarts?" Lily asked having no idea what Hogwarts was.

"I was thinking Hogwarts would be an excellent base for the resistance to operate from. Gather your leaders there, formulate your plans, make sure they're as well trained as you can get them in say twelve weeks. Cells are great for small stuff, keeping yourselves difficult to find and maintaining status quo but to win it takes more."

"Hogwarts' wards closed the school at the death of Armando Dippet. No one is allowed within a kilometer of the place. It's enforced by a contingent of Imperial troops in Hogsmeade." Thomas said flatly.

"Is Honeydukes still in Hogsmeade?"

"The store is still standing but the town is a virtual ghost town. Why?" Thomas asked.

"Well there's a secret passage between Honeydukes and the castle. We get into that passage, and I'll be able to take my time to reset the wards."

"What makes you think you can?" snarled Sirius.

"I got to read a synopsis on warding written by Rowena Ravenclaw. Came to find out in addition to being a natural flier, and absurdly strong in defense, I've got an almost instinctive grasp of wards. Not that I have really had the chance to develop that trait much."

"Oh." Sirius responded chagrined

"Who the bloody hell do you think you are? You're just a snot-nosed kid! How dare you come in here and tell us how to fight a war that we've been fighting longer than you've been alive!" Lucius yelled.

Harry was torn between anger and amusement. The Lucius Malfoy of the previous universes was an arrogant man and the epitome of a Slytherin. This one definitely had the surface of a snake but underneath lurked a lion. On reflection in his own universe Draco had been the same, impulsive and apt to fly off the handle. Considering what Harry had found out he was doubtful if the empire's education had the graduates much beyond OWL level in anything except dark arts. Those in favor and those in healing might be NEWT standard but true masters were as rare as snowflakes in a bonfire, their excellencies didn't want competition or even someone able to stand up to them. If they ever chose to expand it would be when the Empire's numbers would allow them to overrun the world. The Lucius of his experience was a formidable warrior, he wondered if this one had nearly as much ability.

Harry looked at Sirius. "You didn't tell him? I'd have thought he'd realize after our discussion last night."

Sirius whose expression said he's just succeeded with an ultimate prank, was too busy trying not to choke on his laughter to answer.

Thomas was also trying not to laugh. "Luca is a bit thick at times, if it's not openly stated in small words he doesn't always put things together. To his credit though he's a good tactician in battle and brilliant at anything financial." His lips kept quirking up at the corners. Only to have him force them back down not wanting to embarrass Lucius.

Lily also had a slightly confused look.

Lucius snarled, "What?"

Harry felt his own lips quirking upward. "Allow me to enlighten you as to what has our companion in such paroxysms of laughter. Kit Walker is just one of a line of aliases by which I have been known by. You would probably know my last one better, Lex Luthor." Harry watched his expression closely; this should be good.

It was. Lucius got a very disbelieving expression on his face at first. Then as he looked at Thomas and Sirius and came to believe it. Then he paled alarmingly. Harry watched as a look of "I've just insulted someone who even Their Supreme Excellencies didn't want to cross. I'm dead." flew across Lucius' face.

Harry could no longer help it; he snickered but was quick to reassure the blond. "Relax Luca, it's not the first time someone has made a fool of themselves around me, or even the first time I've been insulted. As to fighting **this **war you're right. I haven't been fighting it my whole life, but I have fought evil and its minions over half of my life. I have a few distinct advantages to someone raised in this world, not the least of which is, I can see beyond this conflict. You all can't see the forest for the trees."

"How do you expect us to trust you or what you told us last night? Knowing you were brought here by them! Do you have any idea how far-fetched what you told us sounds? Means of immortality? Get real!" Lily growled.

Thomas pinched the bridge of his nose. "Lily, you're embarrassing yourself and the rest of us. Think about what we know about our guest. He's made the last two meals, I suspect he's better trained than all of us put together and..." He lost the train of his thoughts because Harry had fallen out of his chair laughing.

It took a few minutes for Harry's hilarity to subside. "Sorry, that just struck me as incredibly funny. In the other universes that comment would never have crossed your lips. My training was mostly self-study and sparing with a dueling master and the counterpart to.. well it was undertaken in hopes I could survive you, or rather your counterpart. While what I told you last night may sound far fetched, I assure you I am quite certain of the veracity of the information. While I admit to having a mastery in Defense and outstanding or exceeds expectations on my NEWTs in charms, potions, herbology, and transfiguration, my knowledge of arithmancy, runes, and warding is probably only at OWL level and has been mostly focused into specific applications. Me knowing what I want whatever it is to do, and experimenting until it works. My confidence in breeching the Hogwarts wards comes completely from the fact I've read Rowena's notes on the topic of the wards and I know her specific personal reset keys which in my mind definitely has me as something less than a curse breaker."

Thomas wasn't sure if he was more frightened or reassured by his guest's assertion. It felt reassuring because it made the extremely powerful young man opposite him seem more human. It was also a bit frightening because it meant they were doing as he had done for the last forty years, flying by the seat of his pants. Which was most definitely not reassuring.

"Powerful I may be, but make no mistake; I am human. I am fallible. If you think for even one second I could pull off a coup like this solo you are out of your tree. Like I said last night, I don't know what Grindlewald has chosen for a container. It is up to your spies to figure that out. Ditto for finding the Stone and any elixir. Only after those two goals are achieved will I be useful, I suspect my biggest use will be fighting Grindlewald while Tom here fights Dumbledore."

Harry was astonished when Thomas blanched at that assertion. "What? Do you doubt you're up for the challenge? If that's the case then why do all this? How did you think you would win?"

"I...I did this because it was the right thing to do...I suppose I thought I would win when the two of them died. They are after all fifty years my senior. How the hell is it I am expected to beat a man that powerful with that much more experience and knowledge?"

Harry's eyes twinkled, as he fought the urge to shout 'yes, there is justice in the universe'. "I know exactly how you feel, and I'll do more for you than anyone ever did for me. I'll teach you everything I know. But first we need a training ground and a plan."

A month later Harry's original resistance cell and two others were a bit outside Hogsmeade set to provide a distraction using golems, while Harry, Thomas and Lily were slipping closer to Hogsmeade using invisibility cloaks and silencing charms. Harry had persuaded Thomas that James and the rest of the Potter family wouldn't care if he used the Potter family cloak. Thomas had been curious how Harry had even known about the Potter Cloak. Thomas' eyebrows had climbed even higher when Harry pulled out two more just like it. If they hadn't been on such a tight timetable Harry was sure Thomas would be questioning him. They slipped through Hogsmeade unseen and into the derelict store. Once they were into the store room, Harry removed the hood of his cloak. Thomas and Lily followed suit. He moved the crate resting on the trapdoor off, then opened it and gestured the other two down.

Harry looked around and realized that between the cloaks and their actions, they had displaced quite a bit of dust. Thankfully he had a solution, one of the housekeeping charms Marguerite taught him would come in handy. He slipped back up and cast it in the shop before coming and casting it in the storage room. The charm would suck all the dust in a room up but it came in two stages: the first sucked up the dust, the second banished it. By doing just the first stage it allowed the dust to gradually resettle back down over the next few hours as if never disturbed, erasing the evidence of their presence.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

In a lecture hall 3500 miles away, River Sage looked around. She was surrounded by a hundred of the best and the brightest people that made up the various armed and protective services from around the world both magical and non. It was an honor just to be included in this briefing. At twenty three she was probably the youngest person in the room. At the front of the room conferring with the other high-ranking people were her godfather and mother. He was more like her father really. But she wasn't included in this room because of who she knew, she had worked her butt off to be here. From the moment she had overheard her mother and godfather planning this nine months ago, she had been determined to be included.

Her mother, Dakota Sage, had been a spy on the empire for ten years and even now was considered one of the top analysts on the empire worldwide. She was also considered the world expert on the resistance and was the only person outside of the empire to have seen the resistance leader. Twenty six years ago she had been "made" by the empire and had met the resistance's leader in her efforts at escape. She spent the next two and a half years working with them. It was only after she realized she was pregnant with Thomas Potter's child that she had returned home. She had not wanted her child raised in a war zone. But to this day, she didn't see anyone else, relying instead on the help and support of her non-magical first cousin, Lance.

According to her mom, River had inherited her father's brains, power and the ability to talk to snakes. At twenty three, River held an advanced electrical engineering degree, and was most of the way to having four magical masteries arithmancy, runes, charms, and transfiguration. She had been offered a spot in one of the American Alliance arks as a leader in the field of technomancy but chose instead to train with her godfather, "Uncle" Lance, so she could follow in her mother's footsteps, risking her life for what she believed in.

"Attention everyone, we have a lot of information to impart and we sincerely hope to get those of you who have volunteered to participate on your way as quickly as possible. So if you will all take your seats we can get started. As you all probably know I am, Simon Gutierrez, president of the American Alliance of Citizens, and it is an honor to have all of you here representing all of your nations. The information in this briefing has been verified by each of our nations independent sources and it is with a spirit of cooperation that we are here today." He paused and waited while everyone settled.

"I am going to be placing a heavy burden on all of you in this room. All our various espionage networks are in agreement and have come up with some troubling information. For years it has been known that Their Supreme Excellencies have had mandatory numbers of children for their citizens to produce and at young ages the children are taken to state schools and trained. Indoctrinated to think about the empire the way they want them to think. Projections show that these children are growing up morally questionable and that in twenty five years Their Supreme Excellencies will have citizens enough that they will be able to resume their global conquest. We, the League, all lost significant portions of population during and following the last war. Despite the fact we collectively out number the Imperials by two to one, between the code of ethics our magicals commit to and the chemical and biological weapons we are sure the Empire has, such as the wizarding plague of four years ago that decimated the wizarding population, we are sure we would be overrun."

"But what about the resistance?" someone said loudly.

"Internal resistance has continued, but in the forty years of Their Supreme Excellencies' reign they have not managed to gain sufficient numbers or the power to topple the regime. We are not even certain if the man who has lead the resistance is alive or will be much longer. Our analysts are in agreement; the resistance, while still in existence, is not organized enough and does not have the resources necessary to overthrow the Empire. Most of what we know about the resistance is that the group is organized in mostly independent cells made up of an aging population. The Imperial policy of taking children from their parents works against the resistance and us. Our estimate is: that the resistance will age itself out of being a factor in a war about the same time the Empire is ready to go on the attack.

"Our spies tell us that a powerful wizard was summoned, we do not know from where, for the express purpose of eliminating the resistance and its leader. Our facts about this wizard are that even Their Supreme Excellencies hesitated to anger him. Redish brown hair, sapphire blue eyes, 5'9'' to 5'10'', about 140 pounds and about age twenty to twenty five, name Lex Luthor. But as you all know the description is not really worth the paper it's written on because the guy is a wizard and can change his appearance at will. He seems immune to some poisons and is capable of fighting both with and without magic. We assume once he gets rid of the resistance he'll join the Empire in its march to conquer the world. He has the ability to turn into a dragon."

"But that is impossible!" Someone stated.

"We have several eyewitness reports about his presentation at court; he was crucioed by the now heir presumptive of the Empire. He transformed into a Hungarian Horntail and punished the heir and made it clear to Their Supreme Excellencies that he was not their subject. When multiple sources agree there is not much question it happened. Needless to say, that wizard is probably the strongest wizard born since Merlin.

"His presence is the reason that our governments are uniting. It, plus the conclusions our various analysts around the globe have drawn about the future, has lead the non Empire Governments into making some rather desperate and seemingly dark decisions. In ten years if the Empire is still in power we will launch world wide nuclear strikes.

"Now before you argue that's suicide, you need to know that all the governments represented in this room are making preparations to allow a seed population of fifty five thousand people in each country plus animals, plants and technology to survive such an event. These thousand year arks such as they are, are going to be populated by people chosen through a combination of examining specialties and careers, genetics, age and lottery. Scientists are also trying to determine means of reducing data storage into the most compact means possible. So hopefully we will be able to store all the information that has been created or accumulated by the peoples of our world so the best of our world will survive. We realize this is a desperate measure but our sources are also in agreement that rulers of the Empire appear to have found a means of immortality; they haven't aged for the last two decades. Waiting for time to solve the problem will no longer be an option.

" Now that you all know the bad news, let's get around to why we're all here. You, the people in this room, are what we hope will spare us from having to use our last resort. All of you have been carefully screened. We looked for qualities of: resourcefulness, intelligence, combat ability, a strong base understanding of the principles of magic if not actual ability, linguistic achievement, strong interpersonal communication skills, and administrative ability. You'll be put into teams of four and your task is to make contact with the resistance. Let them know what we just told you, then aid them in any way necessary to make that option unnecessary. The last thing we want to do is destroy the world, people, but if the Empire succeeds they'll take away what little good there is in this world. I don't have to tell you that if the Empire were to succeed most of you in this room would be dead or enslaved. So let's see what we can do to prevent it. At this point I wish to turn the briefing over to General Lance McHenry, the American Alliance Secretary of the Joint Chiefs, Emir Mubarak Tonga of African Emirates of Mchawi, General Hui Tsieh of the East Asian Confederation, General Donegal Carter of the Australian Republic and Dakota Sage, Director of Intelligence in the American Alliance the world's acknowledged expert on the resistance in the Empire."

Over the next three days the generals went over the general plan. River's mother taught everything they knew about the resistance, most of which River already knew due to the fact a lot of it was the content of her bedtime stories about her father. They were instructed on what aid they could give the resistance thereby allowing the magicals the ability to circumvent their restrictive oaths of doing no harm on the basis of direct orders from the government, and instructed on what assistance the governments could and would provide. Then they broke into small groups and were briefed individually by their country's general about where their individual insertion points would be. It was in these meetings the magicals were given the formal orders that bypassed their graduation oaths. No mention of extraction was made because this was a succeed or die mission. If it failed it wouldn't make much difference anyway.

River was put into a group with an African wizard whose parents had been children when their families fled the Empire to Africa. His name was Kingsley Shacklebolt; he was a master of arithmancy and defense and had written several well-received papers about ritual magic. Her next teammate was actually a Japanese wizard, Daisuke Sagara. Daisuke had a dual mastery in charms and defense and was a top duelist, he was also the team's infiltration expert. The fourth member of their team was an Austrailian, Deke Masters, who had held a both a potions mastery and healer credentials but had lost most of his magic in the wizarding plague of four years ago. In addition to being a fully trained medical doctor he was also an expert in weaponry and demolition.

After the briefing finished there was a two month training. This allowed those that didn't already have the insertion skills, HALO jumps, to learn them them and sharpened all their combat ability. Even though the magicals among them wanted to just use brooms it was decided to use non-magical means for entry to the Empire to avoid setting detectors off. Brooms were for backup. The teams were also taught how to use the magically enhanced communicators of River's design that had bought River her invitation into this elite group. Her teammates, who up to that point had been harassing her about being a little girl, were reluctantly impressed when she lead that training.

The last few days before River left she spent with her mom and godfather. They helped her as she carefully selected and packed the items she would take with her. River's team was infiltrating the old UK. Her mom had pulled strings so she got assigned that sector. She wanted to go there because if her father was still alive he would most likely have his headquarters there. Other regions that were being infiltrated included old France, Spain, Germany, India, the Arabian Peninsula, Italy, Greece, Albania Turkey, Korea, Mongolia, there were even some being inserted through the former USSR, and the Scandinavian countries.

On the day of her departure River hugged her mom.

"Bye I'll miss you."

"Be careful. If your father is still alive tell him I still love him and am waiting for him. Assuming he hasn't moved on with someone else. Good luck."

"Godspeed, Midget." Uncle Lance said. "May his grace bring you all the luck, and safety it can. Hopefully one day we will see each other again. There are times I really wish you had taken that ark spot."

"What can I say I am my mother's daughter."

"Thomas' too. I love you, and you make me very proud to call you my daughter." Dakota Sage sniffed hard and blinked away tears.

River turned and boarded the plane taking her to meet her destiny.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Harry Potter its characters and settings are the exclusive property of JK Rowlings, Scholastic books and Warner Bros. Films. I get nothing for the stories I write using these characters and settings. All I get and I love when I get them is reviews from my readers. This story is a collaboration with Darkshaddowedrose.

A/N: _'thoughts from Fawkes'_

Yet Again

Chapter 7

Harry was surprised that the tunnel was not as cobweb filled as he expected. He lit his wand with a quick _lumos._ He had removed his cloak and tucked it carefully away in the mokeskin pouch he always wore. Thomas tucked his cloak into his rucksack. Lilly handed Harry back the cloak he had given her. He confidently moved down the tunnel towards the school. He had gone about half a kilometer when they reached the wards. Harry was pleased; if the wards extended that far they would have lots of room once they were inside.

"Lily, would you hold the light please? Thomas, I need you to keep a steady pressure on the barrier so it will stay visible." Harry used the elder wand to trace the seven key runes onto the barrier. After that he charged the runes.

All of them felt the thrum of powerful magic surround them.

Thomas was surprised. He had felt the magic of Hogwarts before as a boy but it had only been a fraction of what he felt at that moment. It had always given the sense of a banked almost sleepy power. This was like comparing the sleeping kitten of the past with a roaring male lion of the moment.

Lily wasn't sure what she had expected from this excursion, but this oppressive overwhelming power wasn't it and frankly it scared her.

Harry was taken by surprise. He had always recognized Hogwarts' sentience, but the castle had always had more of a quiet almost maternal feel. This was a fierce almost dragonish feel. It still had a vague maternal feel but it reminded him of the Horntail he had faced fourth year. He felt something slam into his habitual occlumency barriers and rather than let his barriers shatter under the overwhelming force he dropped them.

He felt Hogwarts as it ruthlessly examined his memories and his motives, every angry, selfish moment and every compassionate one, every helpless desperate moment and every triumphant one. His hopes, his fears, his secret and not so secret shames and moments of pride. He felt overwhelmed as he relived every moment of his life in all the universes.

The power withdrew for a moment as if considering.

"Did you two feel that?" Harry asked. Then he noticed Lily was sobbing and Thomas was ashen and trembling. "Did she examine you as well?" He asked.

Thomas nodded.

Harry felt a flare of sympathy for Lily he suspected that her little journey down memory lane was very traumatic.

A second later all of them jumped as a ball of flame appeared in front of them. Harry jumped then recognized the phoenix. "Fawkes?"

_'You would be the one then, it has been long since there has been a worthy Headmaster. The bonds Godric and I used to tie me to the school have grown very weak. While Dippet was Headmaster I feared I would have to bond the next Headmaster, regardless of if he was worthy or not, regardless of if he was light or not. But you you truly are a worthy one. You understand both the light and the dark and choose to be a protector. I will bond to you. You will be the best Headmaster in seven hundred years. You will bring Hogwarts back to what the founders intended.'_

Part of Harry wanted to protest, but after a moment's pause he found himself agreeing with the bird, after thinking about Dumbledore in the previous two universes he could certainly do no worse. He extended his arm for the phoenix to land on.

_'There is no time, Harry Potter. You and your friends must take my tail I will take you to the headmaster's office.'_

"Right. Thomas, Lily, take hold of Fawkes' tail. He's going to flash us to the headmaster's office."

One bright flash of flames later they were in the office. Harry was surprised. It was different than his memories. But after a moments reflection he realized, it would be. Here there had been no Albus Dumbledore to fill it with shiny, sparkling moving instruments. Harry was surprised to realize this was now his office by Hogwarts' own decree.

_'Sit in the chair behind the desk. And warn your friends that you will be bonding with the castle, from this time on you will be unable to leave the castle for longer than two months. You are likely to be unresponsive for a few hours so if you need to relieve yourself or eat or drink I suggest you do that first.'_

"I would like to do that first, please." he addressed the bird. Turning to his friends he said, "Fawkes says that I need to bond to the castle, and that I will probably be unresponsive for a while afterwards. But first we should eat and I should use the lavatory."

At the words we should eat a house elf popped into the room startling all three humans. "Headmaster wishes food? What would suit his palate?"

"You are?"

"I is Toby, Headmaster, sir. Head elf of Hogwarts' elves, after you bond completely with the Lady we is following sir's orders and I be telling you what you needs to know."

"Okay Toby, I think roast chicken, garlic mashed potatoes, green beans, a spinach and tomato salad, and fruit cobbler a la mode would suffice. A nice bottle of elven made chardonnay to go with it too if there is such a thing in the larder."

"Apple or peach for the cobbler?"

Harry glanced as his companions. Lily had brightened at the mention of peach cobbler. "Peach, I think."

The elf popped away. After about five minutes he returned with Harry's requested repast. The elves had also included some freshly baked rolls and some peas.

Thomas looked at Harry. "Aren't you a little young to be Headmaster?"

"Apparently Hogwarts feels I'm the most suitable candidate, which is probably all to the good. I'll bond with her and then we can proceed."

"This half-arsed plan that you four men cooked up is insane." Lily said.

"Have you got a better one?" Harry asked. "If you do we'll certainly consider it."

"No," she growled begrudgingly.

Harry was none too certain of the plan they had cooked up either. Sirius and Luca, Harry found it easier to think of the senior Malfoy by his nickname, would head back to court and keep their eyes open for the stone and ideas for what Grindelwald's horocrux might be. Meanwhile Harry and Thomas would be doing three things: 1. expanding the training of the resistance fighters, 2. coming up with a comprehensive restructuring plan, and 3. finally conducting raids on the state schools and homes taking children who were not yet indoctrinated in the Empire's dogma and older children who were disenchanted with the Empire and bring them to Hogwarts. Where they could be trained and hopefully swayed from the beliefs of the empire. Harry was the most worried about the part of the plan he was now officially in charge of: Hogwarts. He wondered where he would find qualified teachers. He was also concerned about how the castle would provide for what he hoped would be five or more thousand people between children, freed thralls, and resistance members. All of whom would need food, shelter and care.

An hour later Harry sat in the chair and mentally reached towards the entity that was Hogwarts. Six hours later he finally awoke from the deeply tranced state he had been in, however he was still in a dazed state. Toby popped back into the office and steered Harry into the headmaster's chambers that joined it. Toby transfigured his clothes into pajamas and fed him a posset and tucked him carefully into bed. He then politely lead Thomas and Lily to guest chambers not far from the office.

"It is now being safe for yous to be wandering the castle, befores the new master of the castle reset the wards proper it would have been dangerous for yous."

"Will Kit be alright?"

"Yes, he is just needing rest. He got a thousand years of history put in his head, plus knowledge of the castle, the castle wards, and a lesson on the requirements and responsibilities of being Headmaster. He is needing to rest and to sort things proper. It may take a day or two but the Headmaster will be fine. It is good he is so powerful, most previous Headmasters needed their Deputies to help hold the all the wards. Some past ones of course were too stupid or vain to admit they needed help, they were the worst headmasters. But the new Headmaster is strong both magically and morally. It is good thing he is here. Hes bes strong enough to hold them throughs most anything. The trouble will be finding him a bride so he does not get lonely. He has much love to give, and a large heart. Yes, yes, he is a good new master this Headmaster. He is warrior, teacher, lover and protector. The founders would be very pleased he has traits of all and balances it better than most. We elves will happily serves such a Headmaster."

Thomas started, "I'm glad to hear that. As you probably know, we have some plans perhaps you and I can discuss the logistics while Kit rests."

"I can dos that."

"Does this castle have a library?" Lily asked.

"Yes, it has the finest library in the magical world. Megan wills shows yous." A second elf popped into the room and led Lily away.

Thomas started a summary of the plans he and Kit had worked out. Toby got very excited, "Us elves will have lots of works! We is going to haves to cleans and opens all the castle, that hasn't happened for four hundreds years!" he snapped his fingers and a moment later a Hogwarts floor plan popped into being on the table in between them. It was midnight before Toby and Thomas stopped making plans. Thomas felt really hopeful for the first time in years.

There were five hundred Hogwarts elves, and while many potions ingredients came from animals, most came from plants. Due to the thrift of Armando Dippet, there were greenhouses full of the plants and stockpiles of those ingredients that were held under stasis charms that meant there were roughly fifty years' worth of ingredients. The Centaurs of the Forbidden Forest had offered sanctuary to many magical creatures and could be negotiated with for many of the other ingredients. The Hogwarts elves also had working farms that could provide food for a year for a thousand people. Once again there was fifty years worth of food stockpiled under stasis charms. Even if the castle was fully peopled starting tomorrow they would have ten years before food became a problem. Thomas sent a patronus message to Olivander offering him sanctuary and a place for him to follow his craft. He also sent messages to the leaders of all the cells in Britain. It was time to turn the resistance into an army.

Harry woke up at noon the next day. He had a greater understanding of why Dumbledore had been so barmy; the castle was like a second consciousness at the back of his mind that had the weight of centuries behind it. The need to be a strong wizard or witch was only part of the equation you also had to have a strong will and an even stronger purpose. He could certainly see how it would be possible to lose a part of yourself to the castle. Thankfully he had a stronger purpose than the "Greater good", although he supposed that did apply in a way.

Harry stretched and smiled as he walked through his new quarters. He showered, dressed, and made his way to his office before calling for Toby and something to eat. Thomas and Lily arrived together at the same time as his food and he was amused to note that lunches for them came on the same tray as his breakfast.

Thomas was very excited, "Kit! Do you have any idea what resources are available to us here? There's food, and potion ingredients and materials for wands enough for the entire resistance for five years or more!"

Lily's voice was awed as she piped up, "And the library!"

"Thought you might like that. Wait until you see Rowena's library. Okay, this is where the rubber meets the road. Toby." Harry spoke before the house elf could leave.

"Yes, sir."

"Did Thomas debrief you?"

"Yes, Master Headmaster."

"So can we work the logistics to bring groups of a hundred in for training, and provide a safe house for roughly a thousand?people "

"IS Headmaster sure he knows what he is doing? Hogwarts is a school, not an armed camp."

"In the era before the Statute of Secrecy Hogwarts, due to the magical node beneath, it served as a base for witches and wizards against the non-magicals of that age. We are fighting for the existence of choice, the right for all things to have choice, to have a voice in their own existence. For magicals and non-magicals to live a life as something other than a drone or a slave for the Empire. Hogwarts is a school, a place of learning, but with the Empire original thought and learning is considered pointless and is being stamped out. Already witches and wizards are less capable than wizards and witches of two generations ago. If we are to turn it around, we have to draw a line. Hogwarts is that line."

"We elves do understands. This is why the castle chose you. Much works to dos this, an old headmaster wouldn't have the stamina or power to dos this. "

"I know and to be fair to you elves, the people that come here will have work rosters where they do things to help. No one will be getting a free ride. I'm thinking laundry and general cleaning can be handled by the people that come here. The elves will be in charge of the kitchens, provisioning, and planning the work roster for maintenance cleaning and the laundry. I think two hours per person per week plus the elves would be sufficient. Children will be an exception. Children will need time to have fun and studying will be work enough for them, they will, however, be expected to pickup after themselves and to keep their laundry put in hampers. You elves won't tidy after them; clean, yes, tidy, no. It is important that they learn to clean up their own messes instead of looking to you elves to do it for them.

"Before people start coming you elves will need to do a thorough cleaning of the castle and we will decide what groups get housed where. There'll be the endangered non combatants, the students, those here for rebel specific combat training, the recently freed thralls, and last but not least the young ones we're taking away from the empire schools and group homes."

Thomas immediately sobered at the mention of the last group. It was the sticking point Lily had with their plan. Actually it was the part all of them had trouble with. Most of the Empire's children had loving families that made every effort to maintain ties with their children once they were sent to school. This would break those ties. Kit had argued it was the only way to break the propaganda chain that the Empire's system created. He was right, but that would make it no less traumatizing for the children they took. And all of them wondered where they would find teachers. Thankfully that portion of their plan was months away. First they planned on training the roughly one hundred adults in Britain who had been identified as rebels.

"I've spoken with Hogwarts. She'll require the elves to pull damaged furniture from the come and go room for me to transfigure. I've adjusted the wards the only way in will be portkeys created by me. I will be putting a young woman named Tamara Jenkins in charge of the infirmary. She has as much medical training as anyone I've met since coming here. I'll be retrieving my household and bringing them here My former residence will now become a clearing house for those who approach the resistance. I guess that means I'll have to lift the fidelius. I think we will put Hogwarts...no the fidelius won't work on the castle not with children coming here for school. Hmm..How to make the contingent of imperials in Hogsmeade decide to vacate... Maybe I can actually expand the wards to cover the valley."

"You can do that?" came a shocked exclamation from Thomas.

"Thanks to the magical node and a little ingenuity I think so. I think I'll be able to encompass all of the forbidden forest as well. It will of course paint a rather sizable target on us. Perhaps we should wait a year or so train up as many fighters as we can before we do that and before we start taking children. Thomas, do you have the figures of how many resistance members and thralls we currently have living in hiding here in Britain?  
"Thomas doesn't, but I do. There are a hundred fighters that have gone into hiding because they were made, we've got five hundred freed from camp thralls awaiting you two to free them of the spells. What else do you need to know?"

"Okay, six weeks. Toby, there'll be six hundred people here in six weeks. Lily, how many fighters are there total in the British Isle?"

"Nine hundred seventy-five."

"France?

"I'm sorry where?"

Harry frowned. He felt a mental nudge from the castle: he looked across the office and spotted an old atlas. He walked over and pulled it out. "This region." He gestured.

"Fourteen hundred."

Harry continued until they had covered the entirety of the empire. At the end he added all the figures together. "So empire wide we have roughly fifteen thousand fighters and of those roughly a third are living in hiding?"

"Yes."

"Then the first to come to the castle will be the ones living in hiding. After they've been trained we'll use them to cover the absence of the fighters that are still safely living undiscovered. Meanwhile, have the undiscovered ones start taking notes on their daily routines we'll use the ones in hiding to fill in for the undiscovered when they come for training. We are going to need a lot of Polyjuice. We need locations, routines, all that for the schools. I want to first bring in the resistance children that live in hiding for school this year and probably next. After that, we'll start pulling kids from the Imperial schools and homes. Do we Have any figures on how many forces the imperials can muster?

"The Imperials outnumber us roughly ten to one." Tom said.

"Ten to one, huh, guess that means we are going to have to train to be seriously kick ass fighters. Which means they'll need to learn physical fighting, battle tactics, spell chaining, accuracy, field medicine," Harry pulled parchment from his desk and began writing a list. Finally he looked to Fawkes. "Fawkes, if you're willing, I need you to play messenger."

_'Of course, Headmaster.'_

Harry wrote out instructions to Marguerite, and to Tamara. Then he looked to Tom, "I intend to go to Rowena's library. It has the arithmancy texts I need to cross-reference. I want to enable us to have a group of wizards break the thrall spell rather than you or I. Because I suspect if they haven't thought of it already, Their Supreme Jerkoffs could offer thralls the opportunity to regain first class citizenship in exchange for selling us out. As awful as it sounds I don't want adults with less than two resistance fights coming here. I have several safe houses across the Empire. We can put the thralls that aren't already with us and those that haven't got their requisite fights in those. Most of them will house about a cell's worth of people comfortably. Your thoughts?"

"That sounds like a good plan. The children right away then? What about the non magical children?"

"If they're resistance children, magical or not, they're welcome... I guess that means I'll have to come up with a non magical curriculum as well..

"You know, I wish the folks that haul me universe to universe had the work I wind up doing coming back on them tenfold. But I suppose... I did get my revenge last time. Dumbdork wound up in Azkaban and several of the others died in the final battle and in this universe those responsible are going to come down with a serious case of dead. Nyah, it still not even."

Thomas could tell all of the comments Kit was making were rhetorical but it didn't stop him from being amused. He was surprised when Kit donned the Sorting Hat and came back out from under it with a bronze key.

Kit looked at them "You both coming?"

"Where?"

"Rowena's library."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

River, Kingsley, and Drew were swearing. The weather person who predicted the weather when they jumped had fucked up. River had voted to try again another day but had been outvoted by higher ranked people back on the other side of the pond. They wound up falling through a thunderstorm, Diasuke had been struck by lightning and killed before his chute even opened and Kingsley had broken a leg when a downdraft had sent him into the ground at too high a rate of speed. River herself had a sprained shoulder from maneuvering her chute in the wind and Drew had a sprained ankle. They made camp and Drew treated Kingsley with her help. Tired and sore though she was River set the spells that would hide their camp. She also sent the report of what had happened when they jumped. She had a feeling that Uncle Lance would be reaming out those that had instructed the go-ahead on the mission despite the weather conditions. It was such a waste of a good wizard. She estimated that they had landed about seventy miles from what had been Cardiff in Wales. Supposedly her father's family had a cottage somewhere not terribly far away from here but given he was in charge of the resistance there was no guarantee that he was even there.

The next couple of weeks were spent doing surveillance. River found the main Imperial base and was working out ways to to slip in and apply a few of her bugs that would allow them to eavesdrop on the Imperials figuring that would be the easiest way to find information on the resistance. Kingsley meanwhile was surveying the area and finding them bolt holes to use as bases, Drew was helping him. One week later when she had figured out the routine, she took the place of a muggle drudge. After stunning the woman, she cast a mild compulsion on the woman that she was ill and should stay home and rest for the day. River had collected a bit of hair for polyjuice which she would drink throughout the day and obliviated the woman's memory of anything except that she felt sick.

River fought her own nerves as she went through the day cleaning the offices and conference rooms. An hour before the workday of the woman she replaced ended there was a sudden spate of activity.

"What do you mean the Rebels are attacking outside of Hogsmeade? Why are they doing this again? They gain nothing by attacking there! They're supposed to attack thrall encampments, and magical labs, and storage depots. Not unimportant guard posts. It makes no sense!"

"They're attacking anyway!"

"Fine. Muster squads six through twelve we'll run them off."

River waited until the guards had left then she slipped in and took pictures of the maps holding placements of guard posts, thrall encampments, magical labs, storage depots, and pretty much everything that showed where potential rebel targets were. She also searched for any information the guard had acquired about the rebels,which judging by what she found wasn't much. She finished working and left on schedule. It was with a sigh of relief that she apparated back to the campsite.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thomas sighed. Getting out of Hogwarts had been more interesting than he'd intended. After their attack to get in the guards at this outpost had gotten rather jumpy. He really needed to recruit someone higher in the guard here in Britain. If he could get the laziest and least observant of the guard stationed in Hogsmeade it would be better. At least this time his return would be easy; his portkey would take him past the wards and the guards.

He sighed. The amount he'd learned from Kit and the Hogwarts library in the last six weeks alone argued that Kit was indeed the subject of the prophecy, which was nerve wracking in the sense that it named him as someone who would change the course of world events. Kit was the modest sort and while he definitely didn't hesitate to lead or to fight, he wasn't a braggart. He had a temper. In some ways he reminded Thomas of Lily; at times he would cock his head a certain way and the resemblance was uncanny. He wasn't as damaged as Lily, but there were signs he hadn't had a nice life. There were some other odd similarities between his second and the boy from another world. But Thomas had been too busy to do more than notice the resemblance.

The first month Lily and Kit worked insanely long hours to figure out a way for average witches and wizards to break the thrall spell. He had been impressed by some of the arguments that had occurred between Kit and Lily as they worked through the problems involved. Lily arguing that an amplification spell would work, but that Kit was wrong in how to structure the thrall cancelation spell. It turned out Lily was right about the amplification spell and Kit was right about the cancellation spell. The end result the two had come up with was twenty one stones placed in two circles around three witches or wizards to amplify their magic around of and a set of six stones that carried the actual spells placed around up to four thralls to break the thrall enchantments. Kit had had Fawkes flash them to his former cell's safe house to test it. Most witches and wizards could easily activate and maintain the two spells. Thomas had been able to follow the reasoning and the runes and arithmancy in general because of what he had done to break the thrall spell, but he had come to the conclusion that both Kit and Lily were geniuses, something Kit vehemently denied, saying he had known someone who was a genius and he was nowhere close.

Two weeks after they first entered the castle Ollivander and Kit's girls had arrived at Hogwarts. Tamara had taken control of the infirmary and was devouring the medical texts in both the main library and in Rowena's library. She also made extensive use of the room of requirement teaching herself medical techniques she had never been taught. Siobhan and Sinead had become Thomas' assistant researchers and the resistance communication coordinators. Arundhati had become Toby's main liaison in planning the castle room usage and the usage of the castle stores. Heidi was working with Kit on planning the early education of all the children. Rose and Dominica both were working to become advanced magical students so they would be able to teach the beginning magical students. Kit's personal elves stayed in the manor to act as eyes, ears, and hands for the resistance base that was forming after Kit's household moved to Hogwarts.

Lily's reaction to Kit's "harem" arriving at Hogwarts had been funny to watch. There had been a fair amount of animosity towards Kit from Lily when she realized that the seven girls had been thralls to/for him. Kit had ignored it, but the seven girls took extreme exception to it and meals had been awkward while the eight females sorted it out. In the end the seven girls told Lily to lose the attitude because Kit was quite simply the best thing that had happened to them, and if they held no grudge she should not.

Kit in the few hours he wasn't tied up with Lily working out the problems of freeing the thralls, or with Thomas working out the future politics or the training schedule for the resistance adults, spent time figuring out what was going to be the curriculum for the magical students. He also spent time trying to find training materials for future students because it was certain that the Empire wasn't going to be supplying materials the way they did for citizens of good standing.

Thomas had been surprised when their second week in the castle Kit had turned one of their political planning meetings into a training duel. It had been fierce and long but in the end Kit's creativity had won. Thomas was panting when Kit had extended a hand to help him up. "You're good, Thomas. War has obviously helped you get sharp. I can give you a couple pointers, but the biggest flaw is the variety of spells you cast. You tend to use the same seven spells. You're rock solid on those and they're great for group combat situations against the three-quarters trained wizards of the empire, but I observed one of Dumbledore and Grindlewald's spars. They didn't know I was there, but they utilize a wide spell range and they combine many disciplines including transfiguration when they fight. Right now either one of them would mop the floor with you. Right now you pretty much stick to hexes and curses, I would recommend expanding your spell repertoire, include other disciplines. You saw how I won, right?"

"Yeah, you flung an_ aquamenti_ at me, waited until I was back standing in the puddle for the third time then froze it. While I was struggling to maintain my footing, you attacked me with a _expelliarmus_ and that dog you transfigured attacked me, dividing my attention and my ability to respond."

"Don't worry,Thomas. You'll get sharper, I guarantee it." Kit had given a grin that made Thomas nervous.

Thomas reflected that he had improved in just the four weeks since that duel. He had thought he was used to dividing his attention during battle but Kit took it to a whole new level. Combining political discussion with a duel was stunningly effective at teaching Thomas to use his instincts to move through the duel because his thoughts were on the discussion not his responses to being attacked. Kit's attacks never were the same twice. He used magic and physical attacks interchangeably and the way he used things that you would think couldn't be used as an attack made him a devastating opponent. Tom had noticed that Kit never used spells that were remotely dark and he wondered why that was.

He really wondered about the life Kit had lived in other universes; how the much younger man had acquired so much knowledge of fighting and politics. He seemed so young because he had a bit of a perennial student attitude: open to learning everything he could from anyone willing to teach him something. But then he turned around and taught things as easily as if he was breathing and he had a cynicism suiting someone four times his age. While he held a seemingly open attitude and answered questions about information on the things he knew, he never answered personal questions about his past and his favorite way of avoiding them was to redirect the question and distraction, usually it wasn't until hours later that you realized he never answered the original question. Kit was a mystery wrapped in an enigma and surrounded by a quandary, all in the shape of a question mark, and seemed to like it that way.

He sighed. It would be seven or eight months before he returned to Hogwarts. He was going to contact all the resistance groups across the empire. He had forty sets of stones and a hundred portkeys to Hogwarts each one set for ten people. Over the next year one thousand people would make their way to the castle and hopefully become better stronger witches and wizards because of it.

Thomas had been astounded at Kit's parting gift, a set of psychic papers. Thomas had looked at the packet of six blank papers tucked into the sort of leather pouch identification documents were commonly stored in, with confusion. "What is this?"

Kit had given him a grin. "A little invention of mine, inspired by a television show my cousin watched as a kid. Don't worry if you don't know what television is, from what I've seen this world doesn't have it. Anyway this paper has the property of whoever looks at it will see exactly what you tell them they see. If you tell them it's ID that's what they see. If you said it was an invitation to court that's what they'd see."

"Is this paper how you got past the auror that day at The Prancing Pony?"

"Yep. Told him he was looking at my ID and papers allowing me to deal in thralls." Kit's smirk had made Thomas laugh. Those who peddled thralls were usually regarded as the boogeyman by the average citizen because they looked at everyone from the standpoint of how much coin could they get. "This is great! Is it hard to do?"

"Sort of, but not really. To make it work, before you hand them the documents tell them a name and what is in the folder. I won't make it for the resistance in general. It would be to easy to become a problem later. I'm willing to make sets for those I personally know who won't abuse it, but only them. Everyone else will have to make do with forgeries or stolen. "

Thomas had first wanted to protest but thought better of it after a moment.

Thomas, having finally reached the edge of the anti apparition wards around the edge of Hogsmeade sighed, it was time. He did the first of what would be many jumps.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Harry Potter its characters and settings are the exclusive property of JK Rowling, Scholastic books and Warner Bros. Films. I get nothing for the stories I write using these characters and settings. All I get and I love when I get them is reviews from my readers. This story is a collaboration with Darkshaddowedrose. Betaed by Alix33.

A/N: Some of you have asked how old is Harry now. He's approaching 25, he was almost 18 when he left his home universe, one year in the Yet Another Universe universe making him almost nineteen, then almost three years in Grindelwald and Dumbledore's court and another three making contact and climbing the ranks of the resistance. To all of you who have said you're liking this one more than the first, Thank you. The first was an exercise in keeping myself writing despite writer's block, I freely admit it used a fair number of fandom cliches. But when Darkshadowedrose and I saw the first suggestions of doing a sequel we looked at each other and said it has to be different. This is the result and I hope you continue to enjoy.

A/N2: Congratulations to transportation who undertook and has finished the story, Still Another Universe, written in response to my challenge. Well done! My apologies for the long delay RL and muse issues.

Yet Again

Chapter 8

Bonding with Hogwarts had shown Harry how the original Headmasters and Headmistresses were chosen. Originally it was done by consensus between the guardians, Fawkes,the phoenix who had been bonded to Helga Hufflepuff, and Bathsheba, the basilisk, and the administrators, the Hat and the Castle herself. They originally looked for powerful individuals that embodied and balanced the traits of the four founders. That the Basilisk in the Chamber was counted as one of the guardians had surprised Harry. Unfortunately late in the fifteenth century, the Headmaster and the chosen successor had died when muggles attacked the castle. The result was the wizard's council of the era had appointed the most powerful and well-connected witch of the age to the job and the muggle repelling wards were placed. While not ideal, Hogwarts worked with the political appointees a well as it could. But since most didn't have enough open-mindedness to accept that the castle was sentient and had their own agendas, Hogwarts had drifted into an apathetic sleep rather than be closely tied to the long string of idiots and political animals; many of whom had things other than the welfare of the students in the forefront of their minds. Not that they were for the most part bad or incompetent, most merely allowed personal prejudice to blind them to their own foibles and allowed their views to create division between the houses. They had been strong enough to hold the wards and caring enough that most magical children were able to function as members of magical society after graduation, which was why Hogwarts stayed open. But after the death of Dippet, the Empire's chosen replacement was so bad the castle had closed itself rather than uphold the appointment.

Harry had exited the castle with Fawkes one night early in his stay and retrieved a dozen sheep from an Empire sheep farm. Together they brought the sheep to the Chamber. Harry had called the basilisk and fed it. Bathsheba had mostly hibernated since the death of the last correctly chosen Head of Hogwarts but hunger was slowly driving her mad. The Wizards council of that era had trapped her beneath the castle and while she had been able to catch rats and survive she needed larger prey to thrive. After she ate the sheep she had spoken to Harry before going back to sleep. Fawkes had encouraged Harry to let her rest and they agreed that she needed a couple of months of rest and steady food to recover from the six centuries of isolation and near starvation. Harry came to the conclusion that Bathsheba in his own world had tumbled over the edge into madness when Tom Riddle of his own universe had spouted his hate rhetoric while still denying her her basic need to eat.

Harry had figured out what he would teach each of the twelve weeks that resistance members were going to be at Hogwarts. He had laughingly named the twelve week course for adults boot camp and he was now working on planning curriculum for kids. But he had the same problems for both groups: where would he get text books?

Harry went to the source he had found for the books to teach the girls hoping beyond hope the man could get his hands on more books.

"Gov, I can maybe get you a copy maybe two but there's no way I can get my hands on two hundred. I can only slip seven or eight out a month or it gets noticed it does."

"Out? As in out of a storage facility? "

The man flushed. "What of it?"

"How many books are in this storage facility?"

"Dunno. Lots, books that have been banned or that were taken from muggle places mostly. A whole warehouse full."

"Why didn't they get burned then?"

"Dunno."

"How much profit do you stand to make on the books you sneak out of there?"

"I dunno I usually sell six or seven of them in a month. That order I did for yeh a couple years ago was the most profit I made in years."

Harry thought about the shady bookseller he was speaking to, he was actually one of many Harry had made contact with since coming to this universe. He thought about what he knew of the man's habits, then nodded to himself. He said, "I'll make you a deal. You give me details: location, guard schedules and whatnot to that warehouse, and I'll give you gold, one thousand pounds of it." Harry was figuring since a pound of silver had bought him the twenty books for the girls, this weight in gold would get him the information. He watched as the man's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. He reached into the pocket of his robe where he had stashed a brick earlier and set it in the man's hands. "This brick and 499 just like it, and all you have to do is give me information."

By the time Harry portkeyed back to Hogwarts he had a plan and he intended to implement it posthaste. Unfortunately he was met on his arrival by Lily and she had other plans.

"Where have you been? You do realize people are arriving next week and we still are lacking materials to teach not to mention teachers." He followed her to the potion lab she worked in.

"Yeah, I'm working on that. Where are the twins? I need their help."

"Why?"

"I need to get a sizable resistance crew together for a heist."

"What?"

""I need to get a crew together for a heist."

"What is it you think the resistance needs to steal?"

"Textbooks."

"Textbooks? You want me to authorize a couple resistance cells to steal textbooks?"

"Yeah, we're going to need them for students and this is where I found that I can get them. Now are you going to authorize the cells or not? I could do it myself but the odds are highly unfavorable that way. If I get two to three cells I can carry it out and be in and out with no one the wiser."

"And the Imperials aren't going to notice a warehouse of books going missing?"

"Actually I thought a nice little failure on a fire suppression ward would cover the theft nicely."

"Oh. Fine, I don't approve and somehow I doubt Thomas would. But I can see by the sparkle in your eyes, even if I don't approve it you do it anyway-"

"Thanks, you're the best."

"Where is this warehouse?"

"Near Dover."

"Tell the twins cells twenty seven, thirty, and fifteen."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Has anyone ever told you you're annoying?"

"All the time. Hermione.." Kit suddenly turned quiet as an extremely sad expression crossed his face. Harry hadn't really thought of his friends for a few years. He wondered if Hermione and Ron had gotten married. He wondered if that world had followed his advice about what changes needed to be made he wondered about Luna, Neville, even Ginny. He wondered if McGonagall was still Headmistress and he wondered if Kingsley was still Minister of Magic. He gave himself a mental slap and said, "Focus. Sorry, my mind wandered for a moment. You said cells thirty, twenty seven and fifteen?"

"Yeah, they are close to Dover and were recently restocked on the potion for the golems."

"How many people are we talking about?"

"Between those cells roughly twenty-six magic capable people another eight non."

Harry nodded. "Thanks, it's good to know. There's a bit of spell work I need to pull together for this then we're good to go."

"KIT ! What do you mean a bit of spell work to pull together!"

Harry grinned as he almost skipped away from the potion lab. If there was one thing he'd noticed about the Empire they weren't terribly imaginative. By default that also meant that for the most part the resistance wasn't. Thomas and his spies being the exceptions. He had been really surprised that Thomas hadn't had a larger plan to defeat the Empire or a strong plan of what to replace it with before he'd come along. But in retrospect he could also see why, Thomas was- much as he himself had been in his home universe- very focused on just surviving and being a thorn in the Empire's side. He hadn't ever been interested in politics except in how it had affected him directly and he didn't have the expectation that he would ever need knowledge of them. Abraxas Malfoy had actually done most the political planning for the resistance early on and his sudden death due to Dragon Pox twenty years before had hindered the resistance. Thomas had become leader of the resistance more or less by default, due to being the strongest non imperial magical; something else Harry understood very well. Thomas had never had plans to rule the world. He'd been content to study wards and curse breaking with the goblins at Gringotts. Something that utilized his creativity which was Thomas' main advantage against the Empire. That creativity was also why he was still alive.

In the last universe Harry had found himself enjoying coming up with new spells to do his pranks on Dumbledore. He still shook his head about how naïve, stupid and gullible he'd been in his home universe. If he'd grown up in a good home instead of getting squashed by the Dursleys and the magical world's expectations he would never have considered being an auror and probably would have become a spell crafter just because it was so much fun. Of course he had also come to appreciate politics in the last universe as well, if only so he could fully appreciate mowing over the opposition. Little had he known just how useful that training would become.

Here spell creation was as much about surviving by doing the unexpected as it was about the fun. Politics, well, they were a different sort of fun. Having a plan in place to replace the Empire was just common sense. What made Harry the happiest about it was the fact that the replacement government he and Tom had planned already had addressed his biggest peeves about the government in his home universe, everything else could be negotiated later.

He headed to Rowena's library and headed for the Index. The Index was a nifty feature of Rowena's Library. The Index cross-referenced the entire library and allowed him to use just a few key words to find the information he needed by giving him specific locations of specific books to help him. The library was massive and had many books of what was considered dark material or highly advanced material. By reading Rowena's journal in the last universe Harry had understood the original purpose of the library. Since bonding with Hogwarts, Harry had learned that the restricted section of the main library had evolved after the knowledge of Rowena's library was lost, around the same time as the politically appointed headmasters began. Harry now knew that the library had not been lost so much as hidden. Harry had with the elves' help gone through and transferred the restricted section to Rowens's library.

He knew what he was willing to teach and what he wasn't . He planned to focus on making sure the resistance fighters were rock solid. He would keep his eyes peeled for the most creative members of each group and he would keep them in the castle for an additional three months, using them as trainers for the groups coming behind them. Lily would be teaching Potions, Tamara would be teaching first aid. Harry would be teaching battle magic. He would start off by assessing each group. He would be looking for those that could teach and were the most adaptive. Hoping that each group would have people who could teach something, in addition to coming to learn new things. As for the kids that would be coming he had Heidi, Arundhadi, and Dominica who would be teaching the basic educational skills that were likely to be quite rough in the resistance's children and first year magical materials. Anyone with notable gifts would be paired with an adult for additional learning. Harry felt as if he had made as much in the way of plans as he dared until he actually was dealing with people.

He shook himself, he needed to focus on the transportation spell he planned to create. It would be similar to a portkey spell but was intended to take crates of books from a warehouse through the Hogwarts wards. He figured the resistance would have an hour window to steal the books but he needed an easy method of transporting them to the castle. Portkeys were powered by the user's magic. Harry wanted a way to transport the goods without decreasing the manpower at the warehouse. It took him a few hours, but he found what he needed in the library. Now it was a matter of adapting it for his purpose.

It was hours later and Harry's stomach was growling when he finally left the library. He had the spell ready for testing. Toby popped beside him. "Headmaster sir is not taking care of himself, he is skipping meals."

"Sorry, Toby, I've been working on getting textbooks for the students. I got a lead on a warehouse of textbooks and have been planning how to get them here. Is there a large room where I can send them?"

"There is the Trophy Room. Most other large rooms is full of stored food and potions stuff.

Harry thought about the layout of the trophy room. "Bring me some food, just a sandwich, some carrots and a piece of fruit, to the trophy room. I'll be working in there for a couple hours."

"Yes, Headmaster sir."

Two and a half hours later Harry stood up and eyed the magical circle he'd etched onto the largest open area of floor. He moved to the doorway, took a small square of parchment and drew the same diagram on it that he had put on the floor. He charged it with magic and smiled as it disappeared from his hand and reappeared in the larger circle across the room, he went and picked it up and proceeded around the castle testing what happened when he stuck the square to progressively larger and heavier things that got farther and father from the trophy room. After he transported a block of stone the size and weight of a VW Bug to precisely the center of the diagram he smiled. And shrank the stone so he could move it back outside.

He reviewed the schedule and details of the warehouse one more time, then he went to find the twins. Using their talents he made arrangements with the cells that Lily had suggested for a meeting when he would brief them on the mission. Before those meetings he had Fawkes flame him to the warehouse and spent four hours studying the wards under his invisibility cloak. He took notes so he could plan on how to bring them down. He went back to Hogwarts and slept for nine hours, barely rising in time for the castle's daily update.

Lily started the meeting. "I've got golem potion that needs to be transported to the drop point. I've stocked the infirmary with the potions Tamara requested so we should be fine in the event of training accidents. I've put together a list of eight of the basic healing potions that I'll be teaching. As per your suggestion, I'll begin with the simplest and move to the hardest, that should cover half the potion curriculum. The second portion with be poisons and their antidotes, and the final two weeks will be combat potions I will only teach those to the people that have successfully brewed all the other potions. I don't fancy having incompetents brewing finicky potions."

"Don't blame you. I approve of the line-up. Not much theory behind them, since we're at this point more interested in competence with the important healing potions. It's a good plan. Do take note of anyone who's more interested in the theory side of things; if they're competent we ask them to stick around and learn more." Harry affirmed. "Tamara?"

"The infirmary is as ready as I can make it."

"Good because as soon as we get people here for training you'll probably be busy. You can't teach or learn combat without injuries."

"I've got a basic first aid course laid out and I should be able to tie in with Lily's healing potions curriculum easily."

"Good. Toby? Arundhadi?"

"We've got tentative work schedules put together. We've included some flex to allow for personal preferences. We've set up student dormitories for the kids, separate from the adult areas, we've got a men's barracks, a women's barracks, and about two dozen married quarters."Arundhadi said.

Toby spoke next. "The castle is clean, menus have been planned keeping in mind what you urged, Headmaster. Even though it made the lead kitchen elf less than happy."

"Yeah, well, we're dealing with wartime conditions: these people are likely not to have been eating very well, and the usual diet you like to provide would likely cause problems. We want them fed a healthy diet, but not one that is too rich. Besides, if we feed them too well they won't want to go back and fight."

"Point taken, Headmaster."

"Alright at this point with the exception of the texts we're pretty much set. In two days I'll be supervising the heist of a warehouse full of books mostly textbooks according to my sources. So when people start arriving next week we'll be ready. Good job.

"Toby the day of the heist I'm going to need the elves to move crates from the target zone to elsewhere in the trophy room. I'm figuring it will be ten crates in two minute intervals. Will that be a problem?"

"No, Headmaster, we elves can do that. "

"Wonderful, I'll send a patronus to you when we move. Lily, I'll be out of the castle until after the heist. You're in charge."

Harry smirked as she frowned at him. He didn't know why he enjoyed irritating Lily. Part of it was she took everything so seriously. He frequently wondered if his birth mother had been like that, or if association with the Marauder's had loosened her up, or if this Lily's attitude was solely the outcome of what she had been through.

Everything leading up to the day of the heist ran smooth as butter, which Harry supposed should have set off his internal warning system.

The non-magic resistance member he had doing surveillance had no way of knowing that it was time for the Lord Consort's secretary to do her annual inspection of the Lord Consort's Library warehouses. She and her entourage of ten guards, clerk and personal thrall had portkeyed into the warehouse an hour earlier.

Outside the golems of the leaders of cell thirty and twenty-seven were pulling down all the wards on the warehouse under Harry guidance. Harry was setting up keyed wards outside the wards they were pulling down. It was a precaution he'd started using after his third resistance raid. Anti apparition, anti-portkey wards were tricky because he had to key them so only his portkeys got through especially tonight, plus wards to stop communication in and out except for by patronus. Dividing his attention was so much fun. The end of both tasks coincided. "Okay break into your teams. There should be four guards, keep in teams and knock them out. If they offer resistance take them out. I would prefer they get to go home to their families tonight, but it's more important that you do." It had turned out that only half of the cells members had experience with golems so Harry had more live persons than he wanted. Unfortunately he needed the manpower.

"Got it." Most of the resistance members affirmed.

Harry's "_alohomorra" _opened the door, but it was hard to say which side was more surprised. Harry hated when snafus like this happened.

Fortunately the resistance fighters with him had the right reactions to the situation: they snapped off stunners before their opponents even had a chance to draw their wands. Unfortunately many of them didn't have much training, and their aim wasn't especially good. Five of the seventeen people in the warehouse were still mobile. Harry threw up a shield with the Elder Wand to protect his side that at the moment was bottlenecked at the door. He held it while with his holly wand he snapped of four _reductos_ to push the additional people back, so they could get in and put their greater numbers to work for them. It was a brief battle and the resistance lost four golems but in the end they were victorious.

The seventeen people on the Empire's side were stunned and tied up, or in the case of three of the actual guards, dead. Harry grimaced over that, but it couldn't be helped. They still had a heist to accomplish. He sent his patronus off to Toby to alert the elves, and a second off to Lily for veritaserum. He wanted to interrogate the people they had captured without having to wonder if he was being told the truth. In the meantime he set some guards for the prisoners, and set the rest to gluing the sigils on the crates.

He had just activated the transfer when Lily appeared in a flash of flames with Fawkes.

"Can't anything you plan run according to plan, Walker!"

"Hello Lily. We ran into an unexpected snag. We have some prisoners, one of whom I swear I saw at court. She looks familiar. Therefore I figured some questions were in order. If you want I'll handle it without you, but I still have my mission objectives to accomplish." Harry charged the second batch of crates. He knew by the time they emptied this warehouse he would be wobbling because there were more crates here than he'd realized.

Lily frowned but she moved to the nearest warehouse guard. Putting her wand to his temple. She said, "Who is the highest ranked person here? Tell me before I reducto your brains all over the walls."

The smell of urine met their noses, while he quickly gave Lily the information she wanted, "Madam Secretary Umbridge, she's in the pink robe."

"Umbridge?" Lily's voice was lifted in surprise.

"Umbridge." Harry's voice was a hostile hiss. The woman wasn't as rotund as the woman in his own universe but there were enough similarities he wanted to kick himself for not recognizing the bitch.

"The leader will be pleased. She's on his list. Excellent ,Walker."

"His list?"

"People of interest to him because of information they have. Or in this case because of who her thrall is."

"My thrall." The ugly woman croaked. "Why would my sweet Jamie be of interest to the leader of you rebel scum."

"Mistress?" the trembling voice of the thrall came. "I'm frightened, Mistress."

Harry turned and looked at the thrall they had tied up. He hadn't noticed the Potter hair but now that he knew to look for it, it was obvious. But that wasn't what caught his attention: the man's eyes were sightless. He felt a strong surge of pity for the man who would have been his father. He turned his attention back to the crates. "Interrogate the bitch, position, details, everything you can get. Find out how she conditioned her thrall, the leader will want to know. If you aren't done by the time we are, she'll come with us but I'd rather she didn't. Don't waste time. Let's keep moving people; we've got lots to do."


End file.
